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POLAND
THE STORY OF THE NATIONS.
iMtrgi Crpwm 8tv, Cl&tk, Illustrated^ 6c
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I. BOMS. By AsTHUK Gilman, «. CBB JSWS. By Prof. J. K. J. OBBMAHT. Hy Rev. S. 4> CUUMIACIS* By Prof. Alfkeo
« ZMPIRK.
MAHAFfV.
IN SPAIN. By
By
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/liNAIDK A.
Hy Hknkv
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POOUL
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By
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.■\i.KKRO J. Church.
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IJy Stanley Lane-Pckile. 23. RUSSIA. By W. R. MoR-
KILL, M.A.
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KI.NTOSM, LI. I).
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33. POLAND. llv W. K MoK. ru.i, M \
3«
3»
LoNDOM : T. KlSllEK UNWIN, Paternostbr Square, E.C. I
/ ;•
JullS ^OlIIK^Kl.
POLAND
W. R. MORFILL, M.A.
{Reader in Russian and the other Slavonic Languages in the
University of Oxford,
Corresponding Member of the Royal Scientific Society of Bohetnia),
Author of
"RUSSIA," "SLAVONIC LITERATURE," ETC.
^/'
T. FISHER UNWIN
PATERNOSTER SQUARE NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
MDCCCXCIII
Entered at StaUoners' Hall By T. FISHER UNWIN.
COPYBIGHT BY G. P. POTNAM'S SONS. J893
(For the United States of America).
PREFACE.
I HAVE written this little book on Poland on the same lines as my previous work on Russia in this series. The plan of the work is to give a readable history of the country by bringing into prominence the more stirring episodes and salient characteristics, and putting in the background the details which must prove less interesting. At the same time, the thread of the history is never intentionally lost sight of. It is but fair to add that the work is based entirely upon original and native authorities, and no mere com- pilations have been employed.
An attempt has been made to give in detail the chief ethnological elements of the population ; and for those who wish to study Polish history more minutely a list has been added of the most important works on the subject.
My book has no political bias : it is not ten- denzi'ds^ as the Germans say. I have told the tale of Poland — a very mournful one — and have never intentionally perverted or concealed the truth. I have given what I think were the causes of the fall of this once powerful kingdom ; but, while
viii PREFACE,
endeavouring to discharge the duty of an honest writer of history, I have been unwilling to per- form merely a cold-blooded dissection of the un- fortunate country ; its limbs, although distorted, arc still instinct with life. But the writer of history is not required to be a political advocate ; the less he attempts anything of the kind the better his history will probably be. I hope my chapter on the litera- ture may be serviceable in awakening an interest in the Polish language, still spoken by upwards of ten millions. No one can read the literature of Poland without feeling a warm sympathy with this interesting people.
It only remains that I should thank my friend. Dr. George Birkbeck Hill, the editor of Boswell, for kindly looking through the proof sheets and aiding me with many valuable suggestions.
W. R. MORFILL.
CONTENTS.
Preface
PAGE
vii
The Country and People of Poland
1-19
Cracow — Lemberg — Brest-litovsk — The Vistula — The Polish Language — The Lithuanians — The Ugro-Finnish Race — The Jews.
II-
The Sagas of Early Polish History . . 20-24
Leszek — The Lekhs.
in.
The Rise of Polish Nationality. From the Reign of Mieczyslaw L (962) to the Death of Boleslas the Brave (1026) . . . 25-30
Otho in. and Boleslas — Boleslas the Great.
IV.
From the Death of Boleslas the Brave to the Beginning of the Reign of Przemyslaw I. 31-37
The Interdict — Conrad of Masovia — Leszek, the Black-
fAGB
FiOM Tiw Becikwinc of thi: Rkic.n of Przemy-
tLAW I. (1195) TO THE MaRRIACE OF JaDWIGA AND JaOIKLIjO (1386) • S^S^
LidUMi Lokkttk— Oalicta acquired— Gennans in Poland— F«lMdii at Onoow— Jadwiga— UdisUns Jagiello.
The Eav ^ IF.LLOS. From Ladislaus Jagiello TO > ^i» I. 1386-1507 . . 51-69
Xlum— The Treaty of Thorn— Castmir IV.— John Allxirt I — Baooaooc«i — Alexander — The diet at Radom— the nutb— A cruel aristocracy.
VII.
The Jagiellos. SicisifUND I. (i 507-1 548), Sigis- MUND II., Augustus (1548-1572). The Elected SovBREiGNS, Henry of Valois (1574-1575X Ajn> Stephen Batory (1576-1586) . • 70-117
Cofwinicui Luaury of the Nobles— The University of Qmow —Nicholas Radzi will — Duke Albert — The Polish Fwlwiqr Henry and Zborownki— The Ixinquet at Paris— FUfbl of Henry— Batory elcctetl—IJaiory's Plans— Death of Balory— Anna Jagidlonka— The Condition of Poland— The DMdcma-Albert Laski.
VIII.
FomiBE Dicune or the Country- Reigns of SiGUMUND IIL, Ladislaus IV., John Casimir, AND Michael Korybut . .118-154
John of S««kB~S%iMMUMl III. — The Uniates-Jan yiir^ttri-^The Kakt DeoMlrkdi— Smotrycki— Jan Loski-
r—rolish Cookcry-Thc
CONTENTS. XI
PAGE
Cossacks — CoUoquiuni Charitativwn — Liberum veto — Inva- sion of the Swedes — Marie Louise — Abdication of John Casimir — Death of John Casimir — Michael Korybut.
IX.
The Reign of John Sobieski . . . 155-192
Siege of Vienna — Kolszicki — Retreat of the Turks — The King's I^etter — Sobieski's Triumph — Death -bed of Sobieski — South's Description — Clementina Sobieska — The French Abbe — Marie Casimire — Madame Royale — The Polish Nobles —The Polish Diet.
X.
Decline of Poland — The Saxon Kings. 1698- 1763 193-211
Charles XIL— Treaty of Altranstadt— Charles XII. at Bender — Courland — The Dissidents — ^Journey of Stanislaus — Escape of Stanislaus — Charles XII. — Augustus III.
XI.
Stanislaus Poniatowski — The Three Partitions. 1764-1795 212-252
The Confederation of Bar — Plot against the King — Perils of Stanislaus — Count Beniowski — First Dismemberment — Poninski — The New Government — Zabiello — New Constitu- tion— The Peasantry — The Diets — Conduct of the Prussians Kosciuszko — Maciejowice — Kosciuszko in France — Stanislaus abdicates — Stanislaus in Russia.
XII.
The Poles as Subjects of Russia, Austria, and Prussia 253-268
Treaty of Vienna — Constantine — Warsaw taken — Ancillon — The Galician Massacres — The Secret Committee — Muraviev,
xii CONTENTS.
XIII.
PACK
Polish Literature 269-326
Queen Margaret's Psalter — Dlugosz — Copernicus — Szymono- wicz — Kromer — Orzechowski — Skarga — Gornicki — Potocki — Morsztyn — Kilinski — Rzewuski — Nietncewicz — Mickiewicz Malczewski — Fredro — Lelewel — Szajnocha — Kraszewski — Ujejski.
XIV.
The Social Condition of Poland . . . 327-358
The Nobility — The Burghers — The Peasants — The Kmetons — The Villages — Courland — The Jews — The Szlachta — Polish Legislation — The Kmetons — Polish dress — The Nobility — The Polish Kings.
XV. Political and Literary Landmarks — Authori- ties 359-375
Historical Dates — Summary — Literary Dates — Bobrzynski — V. Krasinski — Coxe — Mickiewicz — White Russian.
List of Polish Kings ...... 376
Genealogical Table of the Jagiellos . . 378 Genealogical Table of the Sobieskis . .379 Index 381
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
JOHN SOBIESKI Frontispiece
MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE FINAL PARTITION OF POLAND,
1795 To face page i
PAGE
THE JAGIELLO LIBRARY AT CRACOW . . . .6
SEAL OF MIESZKO THE ELDER 25
A CUP PRESERVED IN THE CATHEDRAL OF PLOCK,
GIVEN BY CONRAD I., DUKE OF MASOVIA . . 35
SEAL OF PRZEMYSLAW I., DUKE OF GREAT POLAND . 39
SEAL OF CASIMIR THE GREAT 41
SEAL OF THE CITY OF CRACOW (1333-I370) ... 43 TOMB OF CASIMIR THE GREAT IN THE CATHEDRAL AT
CRACOW 48
SEAL OF CASIMIR THE GREAT 50
THE CATHEDRAL AT CRACOW IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM.
FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES . . 57
SEAL OF JANUSZ AND STANISLAUS OF MASOVIA, 1520 . 59 MONUMENT OF CARDINAL FREDERICK JAGIELLO IN*
THE CATHEDRAL AT CRACOW 62
SIGISMUND I. . . *. 71
ALBERT OF BRANDENBURG 73
CHRIST DISPUTING WITH THE DOCTORS—WITH FIGURES
OF SIGISMUND AND HUSSITES INTRODUCED . . 75
xiii
XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
THE FLORIAN GATE AT CRACOW AS IT APPEARED IN
1498 78
SIGISMUND AUGUSTUS 80
SEAL OF SIGISMUND I. AS DUKE OF GLOGAU . . 8 1
GOLD PIECE OF TEN DUCATS OF SIGISMUND AUGUSTUS 8 1
PORTRAIT OF ELIZABETH, FIRST WIFE OF SIGISMUND II. 83
SILVER-GILT MEDAL OF ALBERT OF BRANDENBURG . 87
SIGISMUND AUGUSTUS ....... 89
MAP OF POLAND AND LITHUANIA AT THE TIME OF THE
UNION OF LUBLIN, 1 569 9I
HENRY DE VALOIS 99
STEPHEN BATORY I04
COIN OF STEPHEN BATORY I07
TOMB OF ANNA JAGIELLONKA IN THE CATHEDRAL AT
CRACOW . . .Ill
SIGISMUND III 120
COIN OF SIGISMUND III 123
THE STATUE OF SIGISMUND III. AT WARSAW . . I30
COIN OF LADISLAUS IV 1 33
JOHN CASIMIR ......... 142
COIN OF JOHN CASIMIR 149
COIN OF MICHAEL 1 53
PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF VIENNA IN 1683 • • -159
COIN OF JOHN SOBIESKI 172
THE POLISH DIET 1 89
[Explanation of the Letters in the Picture:— A, The King ; B, The Ten Officers of the Crown ; C, The Archbishop of Gnesen ; D, The other Ecclesiastical Senators ; E, Foreign Ambassadors admitted to the Diet ; F, The Palatines and Castellans ; G, The Deputies ; H, The Speaker of the Deputies ; I, Vacant Seats for others sometimes admitted. I, The Arms of Poland ; 2, The Arms of Lithuania.)
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV
PAGE
AUGUSTUS II 194
COIN OF AUGUSTUS III 2IO
STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS 213
COIN OF STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS 230
THADDEUS KOSCIUSZKO 240
POLISH KOSYNIER IN THE TIME OF KOSCIUSZKO . . 245
SUVOROV 247
GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE 256
ADAM MICKIEWICZ 299
POLISH ARMOUR AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY" 330
A POLISH GENTLEMAN 332
A RUSSIAN GENTLEMAN IN A WINTER DRESS . . 333
( Those portraits which are not reproduced from prints in the British Museuin are take?t fro?n Schiemamis " Russland^ Polen, iind Livla)id bis ins 17 Jahr- hundert" and Forster^s " La PologneP The coins are copied from LeleweVs " Antiquites de Poiogne'^ and Schiemann. Other illustrations are taken from Coxe's " Travels " a7td Con?ior's " Poland.^^)
The following rules for the pronunciation of some of the Polish letters will be useful :
0 is the French on in bon.
c is the English ^s.
ch is the German (guttural) ch.
C2 is the English ch in church.
e is the French in in fin.
g is always hard.
j is the English _y.
6 \% the French on.
rz is the French/ in jour.
sz is the English sh.
w is the English v.
szcz \s shch in Ashchurch.
The accent (stress) is nearly always on the penultimate.
THE STORY OF POLAND.
THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
The conclusion of last century saw the state of Poland rased from the list of European nations. What have been her subsequent fortunes will be dis- cussed in the present work ; to realise what she was at the period of her greatest prosperity, we will take her geographical boundaries in the reign of the valiant Stephen Batory (i 578-1 586), when she was the great power of Eastern Europe. On the east she was bounded by Russia, on the west by what is now the Austrian Empire and the Danubian principalities, the latter united in our own time under the name of Roumania. In the north she extended to the Baltic, in the south she touched the Black Sea at Akerman, but towards the south-east was shut out by Crim Tartary, which was under the suzerainty of the Turkish Sultan.
The division of the Polish palatinates (Woje- wodztwa) is here given from the list contributed by Professor Bobrzynski at the end of his second volume
2 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
(see Dzieje Polski w Zarysie^ Warsaw, 1881, vol. ii.
p. 363).
The Rzeczpospolita or Republic, as it was called by the inhabitants, was made up of two great terri- tories, standing to each other in something like the same relation as Sweden and Norway.
A. The so-called Korona, or Poland, in the strict sense of the term.
I. Great Poland (Wielkopolska), which contained the following palatinates :
a. Poznan, called in German Posen, containing the city of Posen, a city now very much Germanised, but dating from the earliest period of the monarchy. In it many of the earliest kings were buried.
b. Kalisz. Under this palatinate was formerly reckoned the district (Powiat) of Gniezno (Gniesen), but it was separated in the year 1768. This is the city from which the Archbishop of Poland took his title. The archbishopric was founded by Boleslas I.
c. Sieradz. In this palatinate is situated Piotrkow, where the diets at one time were held.
d. L^czyk.
e. Brzesc-Kujawski.
f. Inowroclaw. In which is situated the town of Bydgosd, now metamorphosed by the Germans into Bromberg.
g. Plock. h. Rawa.
i. Masowsze, called also Masovia, and by the Ger- mans Mazuren. In this palatinate is situated War- saw (Warszawa), which was first made the capital of the country in the reign of Sigismund III. The city
CRACOW. 3
is separated by the Vistula from its suburb Praga, which has obtained such a sad historical notoriety. It abounds with handsome buildings, but they are mostly modern. A pleasant part is the Lazienki or baths, where some gardens are laid out, and where a former palace of Stanislaus Poniatowski has been turned into a summer resort. The city contains statues of Copernicus and Sigismund III. It has not the interesting historical associations of Cracow.
j\ Chelm.
k. Malborg. This was originally the capital of the Teutonic knights, and here they had a famous castle. Of this building only the ruins remain, but they are very striking. Portions may still be seen ot the great hall in which the knights met to hold their chapter. It is here that Mickiewicz has placed the scene of his remarkable tale in verse, Konrad Wal- leitrod. A delightful book to read about the knights is the quaint work of Christopher Hartknoch, Alt. 7nid Neues Preussen, Frankfort, 1684.
/. Pbmorska : the district on the coast in which Danzig is situated. Danzig, Polish Gdansk, is a very ancient city, of uncertain origin, which alternated between the rule of the Pole and the German.
2. Little Poland (Malopolska), containing —
a. Krakow (Cracow). In this palatinate is situated Oswi^cim, near which Henri de Valois was over- taken by the Polish emissaries when flying from the kingdom. Cracow was the capital of Poland till the reign of Sigismund III. This city, although having now a somewhat decayed appearance and only reminding the traveller in a melancholy way .
4 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
of its former grandeur, may still be called one of the most interesting and picturesque in Europe. The old castle, once the residence of the king and the scene of so many historical events, has now been turned into a barracks for Austrian soldiers. The imagination of the reader of history will be kindled on seeing it by recollections of the glories of Casimir III., and of the two Sigismunds, father and son ; of the strange adventures of the timid Henri de Valois flying in such undignified haste from his capital, and the brave Stephen Batory, whose voice of power was heard within the walls. The following picturesque description of this castle was given by the old French traveller Le Laboureur, who visited the city in 1646, and wrote a work entitled, Trait/ siir la Pologne: ** Le chasteau est una piece d'architecture aussi accomplie que Ton puisse voir, et tres digne de la majeste d'un monarque puissant. II a beaucoup de rapport au dessin du chasteau Saint- Ange de Rome ; et me semble plus esgay^, mais il a moins d'estendue. Cast un grand corps de logis, da pierre de taille, avec deux aisles, autour d'une cour quarree, decoree de trois galeries ou se degagent tous les apartements. Cas galeries sont, comma las chambras, parqueteas de carreaux de marbre blaiic et noir en rapport; elles sont decor^es, de pcintures et de bustes de Cesars et rian na sa paut esgalar a la baaute des lambris des chambres du second ^tage, qui est le logement des roys at des reynes. C'est v^ritablement la plus belle chose qua j'ai vaua pour la d(-^licatesse de la sculpture et pour las ornaments d'or moulu et de couleurs tres fines. Dans la chambrc principale sont les trophies
CRACOW.
du roySigismond avec millepatergnes et mille enjolive- ments au ciseau qui sont admlrables d'ou pendent en I'air plusieurs aigles d'argent qui sont les armes de la Pologne, que la moindre haleine de vent fait voltiger doucement leur donnant une espece de vie et de mouvement si naturel, que I'imagination en est aussi- tost persuadee que les yeux."
At a little distance from the castle is the cathedral, in which the Polish kings were always crowned and in which the greater number of them lie buried. A modest building stood on this site in the earliest days of the kingdom, but the splendour of the cathedral dates from the reign of Casimir III., who, in 1359, greatly embellished it. It contains many chapels. Some of the earlier Polish kings were buried at Posen ; the first monument to a sovereign in the cathedral of Cracow is that to Ladislaus Lokietck, who died in 1333. The last king of Poland, Stanis- laus Poniatowski, was not buried here ; he lies in the Roman Catholic church at St. Petersburg. Casimir the Great has a splendid tomb. The monument of Sobieski is in red marble, sculptured with figures of kneeling Turks. The visitor is allowed to descend into the crypts and to see the actual colons of the kings. Besides the cathedral there are many churches in Cracow of considerable architectural beauty. That of St. Catherine has recently been restored. A very interesting building is the Jagiello Library with its quaint quadrangle. It contains a fine collection of books and many of the rarest treasures of the Polish press. Especially interesting are the early editions of the native authors. In an album
6 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
preserved in the library with the names of visitors inserted may been seen the autograph of Henri de Valois, Marina Mniszek, the bride of the false Deme- trius, and that of Anna Jagiellonka, the wife of
THE JAGIELLO LIBRARY AT CRACOW.
Stephen Batory. Among the old monuments of the city may also be mentioned the Florian Gate, of the date of 1498, the only one of the gates still remain- ing. Close by is the Museum of Prince Ladislaus Czartoryski, containing some of the most interesting
LBMBERG.
reliques of old Polish life, portraits and memorials of their kings and chief literary men. Adjoining the city of Cracow is the great mound, erected by the Polish people in honour of the hero Kosciuszko.
d. Sandomir. Of one of the districts of this palatinate George Mniszek, the father of Marina, wife of the false Demetrius, was castellan.
c. Lublin, containing the city in which the com- plete union of Lithuania and Poland was carried out.
d. Little Russia (Ruska), in the Polish and re- stricted sense of the term. In this palatinate is the city of Lwow (Lemberg), which will be frequently mentioned in our pages. It is a handsome, rather modern-looking town, with a university, which was founded in 1784. Of great importance is the Osso- linski Library, which is exceedingly rich in manuscripts and early printed Slavonic books. The Staropigiiski Institute is devoted to the encouragement of the study of the Malo-Russian language, and has issued some important works, such as editions of old South Russian chronicles. It also contains a good library. Here may be seen many interesting portraits of hetmans and other heroes of Little Russia. The situation of Lemberg is very important, being of old time one of the great centres of Poland's trade with the East. It now swarms with Armenians and Jews.
The palatinate of Little Russia also included Halicz, the old Russian principality of Galich, which was annexed by Casimir the Great in 1340.
e. Bielska. / Podolska.
g. Podlaska. This territory was formerly occupied
8 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
by a tribe called the Jadzwings, who have now dis- appeared. It belonged geographically to Lithuania, but in the time of Sigismund I. was incorporated with Poland proper.
//. Volhynia, originally a Russian province, after- wards conquered by Gedymin, prince of Lithuania.
i Braclawska.
J. Kijowska. Originally a Russian province, and taken by Gedymin about 1320 ; in the following year we find a Roman Catholic bishop appointed. It became a province of the Crown in 1569, although originally forming part of Lithuania. By the treaty of Andruszowo, that part of it which lies beyond the Dnieper, including the historical city of Kiev, was ceded to Russia. Kiev was to be given back to Poland in two years' time, but Alexis, the Russian Emperor, kept it, because the Poles did not fulfil the terms of the truce. They finally gave it up in 1686.
X'. Czernichowska. Lost to Poland by the treaty of Andruszowo. The chief town is more familiar to us under the Russian form of the name, Chernigov, but, like so many other towns which formerly belonged to Poland, the accent is on the penultimate {cf. Berdichev, Zhitomir, &c.). Chernigov plays a con- siderable part in the adventures of the false Demetrius.
B. Litwa (Lithuania). The second great division of the country consisted of the following palati- nates : —
a. Wilenska. Wilno or Vilna, the old capital of the Lithuanian princes. This city is situated on the banks of the rivers Wilia and Wilcjka ; it was founded by Gedymin in 1322, when a castle was built and a
hREST-LITOVSK.
temple to preserve the sacred fire ; the ruins of these buildings may still be seen. The walls are as old as the year 1506. The city contains many churches, and from 1578 to 1833 was possessed of a university, founded by Stephen Batory, which was under the care of the Jesuits.
b. Trocka.
c. Zmudska. To this province belong the Samo- gitians, who speak a dialect of Lithuanian, in which there is a version of the Bible.
d. Nowogrodska. Part of this territory was Polish, but the city of Novgorod belonged to Russia, and was annexed by Ivan III. to the growing principality of Moscow as early as 1478.
e. Brzesko-litewska. The city of Bresd-litewsk was long an object of contention between the princes of Lithuania and Red Russia. Here, in 1595, the union between the Orthodox Christians and the Latin Church was established, and hence arose the sect of the Uniates. At the present time Brest-litovsk, as it is called (to adopt the Russian form of its name), is one of the most strongly fortified towns on the western frontier of Russia.
/ Minska. At first a Russian principality, then acquired by Lithuania at the beginning of the four- teenth century ; it became Russian again in 1795.
g. Polotska. Also originally a Russian province, acquired for Lithuania by Olgerd.
h. Mscislawska. Originally Russian, acquired by Lithuania during the troublous times of the Mongol occupation, as was the case with the other White Russian principalities.
iO THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
i. Smolenska. Originally Russian, gained by VVitold, the Lithuanian prince, in 1403. Smolensk, the chief town, has always been of great strategic importance on account of its situation on the Dnieper. It is the key to the upper course of this river and to all the great roads which diverge upon the centre of the Russian Empire. In the reign of the Tsar Basil, the vigorous son of a vigorous father, Ivan III., the Russians got back Smolensk (15 13), although in the following year they suffered a severe repulse from the Poles at Orsha close by. Sigismund III., avail- ing himself of the confusion of the snmtnoye vremya^ or time of troubles, as it is called, recovered it for Poland in 161 3. The treaty of Andruszowo saw this city transferred to Russia for ever. Its ancient walls are still an object of interest to the traveller, and have been recently repaired.
j. Inflancka, or Livonia, formerly belonging to the sword-bearing knights, who were merged into the Teutonic knights in 1237 ; it was acquired by Poland in the year 1561. The Swedes gained possession of it in the time of Sigismund III., and only a portion was got back from them in 1660. Peter the Great acquired the Swedish portion of Livonia at the treaty of Nystadt in 17 18.
Of the provinces which acknowledged the suzerainty of Poland, we have Eastern Prussia released by Poland from its claims in the year 1657, and the principality of Courland in the year 1561. The latter duchy was hereditary in the Kcttler family, the last of whom died childless at Danzig in 1737 ; he had succeeded his nephew, who married Anne of Russia, daughter
THE VISTULA. It
of Ivan, the elder brother of Peter the Great. When she became empress, Anne used her influence to procure the election of her favourite, Biren.
As regards the physicaj-geography of Poland, the country was, as, indeed, its name implies, a vast plain, mostly included in the great central depression of Europe. It had hardly any natural frontiers, with the exception of the Baltic on the north, and the Carpathians in the south ; from the Black Sea it was excluded by the Tatars and Turks. Its great arterial river was the Vistula (Pol. V/isla), which rises in the Carpathians, passes Cracow, Sandomir, War- saw, Plock, Thorn (Torun), and divides into two arms — the right, called the Nogat, passes Elbl^g (Elbing), and empties itself into the Kurisches Haf ; the left passes Danzig, and has its outlet near the fort of Weichselmlinde. We thus see that the basin of the Vistula formed the centre of the kingdom of Poland. The river has been shared between the three powers who dismembered the country — the part near its source belongs to Austria, the centre to Russia, and the lower portion to Prussia. The only^ mountains of importance are the Carpathians, which separate Poland from Hungary.
I The greatest length of the country from north to /south was 713 English miles, and from east to west 693 miles ; it embraced an area of about 282,000 English square miles, and this area in 1880 had a / population of 24,000,000. There is good pasture and arable land, but there are also barren tracts, consist- ing of sand and swamp, especially in the eastern parts of the country. Wheat, barley, rye, and other
12 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
cereals are produced. There arc some small iron, copper, and lead mines, and the vast salt-mines of Wieliczka, near Cracow. The population of the former kingdom of Poland contained members of the following races : —
I. Aryan.
a. The Poles, forming the bulk of the inhabitants of the country, among whom must be numbered the Kashubes, now amounting to about 1 10,000, living on the coast of the Baltic near Danzig. They are chiefly engaged in fishing. The Poles, according to the calculations accompanying the ethnological map of Mirkovich (1877), amount to 4,633,378 in the Russian Empire, 2,404,458 (exclusive of Kashubes) in Prussia, and 2,444,200 in Austria. Besides these there are 10,000 in Turkey. These figures give a gross total of 9,492,036, and with the addition of the Kashubes, 9,602,036. It is somewhat difficult to obtain the figures exactly, as some Polish writers, from motives of patriotism, augment the numbers, adding many who are really Malo-Russians.
The Poles belong to the western branch of the Slavonic race, as their language shows. It is a vigorous tongue, and has preserved some peculiar characteristics of Paleeo- Slavonic, now lost, or only partially represented by her eldest surviving daughter, the Church Slavonic. Among these peculiarities are the two nasals, g. and (^, the first pronounced as in the French don, the second as in yi?i. The existence of these nasals in the Church Slavonic was first proved by the Russian scholar, Vostokov. The Polish language is somewhat disfigured by the
THE POLISH LANGUAGE.
13
German words which have crept in. Many Latinisms were also introduced by the macaronic tendencies of the Jesuits. But the poet Casimir Brodzinski has truly and forcibly expressed himself about his native language when he says, " Let the Pole smile with manly pride when the inhabitant of the banks of the Tiber or Seine calls his language rude ; let him hear with keen satisfaction aftd the dignity of a judge the stranger who painfully struggles with the Polish pronunciation like a Sybarite trying to lift an old Roman coat of armour, or when he strives to articu- late the language of men with the weak accent of children. So long as courage is not lost in our nation, while our manners have not become degraded, let us not disavow this manly roughness of our language. It has its harmony, its melody, but it is the murmur of an oak of three hundred years, and not the plaintive and feeble cry of a reed, swayed by every wind."
The language of the Kashubes differs in some interesting points from the Polish, having a fluctuating accent (whereas that of the Polish language is almost always on the penultimate) and more nasal sounds. A grammar has been published by Dr. Florian Cenova, and also a dictionary by X. G. Poblocki (Chelmno, 1887), but a more copious and accurate vocabulary has appeared in. the pages of the philo- logical review, Prace Filologiczne. Their literature consists of only a few songs.
b. The Malo- or Red Russians. These belong to the Eastern branch of the Slavonic family. At the present time they number in Austrian Galicia and
14 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
the Bukovina, including the Guzules and Boiki, about 2,149,000, and in the northern part of the kingdom of Hungary 625,000 ; in the Russian Empire, 10,370,000. The language spoken by the Malo-Russians is essentially the same as that spoken by the Red Russians, the latter, however, has a few- dialectic peculiarities. They were never in very pleasant relations with their Polish masters, especially the Cossack portion of them ; hence the continued fighting and the final transfer of their allegiance to the Emperor Alexis. We have a recrudescence of these troubles in the horrible excesses committed by Gonta and Zhelieznikov upon the Poles and Jews at Human.
The songs of the Russians of Galicia have been collected by Golovatski (Moscow, 1878). A poet of some note among them who used the Guzule dialect was Yuri Godinski, who wrote under the name of Joseph Fedkovich. He was born in the Bukovina, and died at Czernowitz in 1889.
c. The White Russians, inhabiting the governments of Minsk, Grodno, &c. These formed the most civilised element of the strange Lithuanian princi- pality ; in their language have come down such legal documents as the Poles issued to their Lithuanian subjects, €.£-., those of Wladyslaw H. in 1420-142 3, that of Casimir given in 1468, and the so-called Lithuanian statute of 1529. Of this dialect there is a grammar by Karski and a dictionary by Nosovich.
d The Lithuanians, Letts, and Samogitians, amount to about 3,000,000. Of these, the Lithuanians and
THE LITHUANIANS.
15
Samogitians now occupy the Russian governments of Kovno, Grodno, and part of Wilno. They also ex- tend over a small strip of Prussia bordering upon the Kurisches Haf. The Letts occupy the whole- duchy of Courland, with the exception of those portions held by German settlers. An interesting work on the folk- lore of the Letts has been recently published by E. Wolter (St. Petersburg, 1890).
The history of the Lithuanians is legendary till the days of Mindovg, who was crowned prince in 1252. His son Gedymin proved a powerful sovereign (13 1 5-1340). He got possession of Kiev in 1320. Many of the western Russian provinces fell into his power, and he seems to have made some of his sons rulers over them. At all events, he organised a powerful Lithuanian state. He died at an advanced age in the city of Wilno, which he had founded. Of the union between Poland and Lithuania we shall speak in the course of our narrative. This union, made at the time of the marriage of Jagiello and Jadwiga, was strengthened at Lublin, after which Warsaw was chosen as the capital. But it took a long time to thoroughly Polonise Lithuania. The bulk of her people remained for many years adherents of the Greek Church, and the feeling of patriotism was strong in the families of Radziwill, Chodkievvicz, and others. Constant tendencies to independence were conspicuous. On the death of Sigismund Augustus the Lithuanian national party wished to put an inde- pendent prince upon the throne. Frequently during an interregnum the Lithuanians were desirous of having the Russian tsar for their ruler. In the
1 6 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
negotiations with the Poles which took place on the death of Sigismund Augustus, the Lithuanian senate was eager for the restoration of Volhynia, Kiev, and other territories, so that Lithuania should not be described as a part of Poland. On the death of Batory some of the Lithuanian magnates again wished to elect the Russian tsar. This is proved by documents preserved in the archives of Prince Czartoryski, from which the late Professor Perwolf made extracts. Sigismund III., among the terms offered to the False Demetrius in 1605, required that he should bring about the perpetual union of the states, ?iniiz wieczngi, Panstzv. As yet so many of the people were of the Orthodox faith that their luke- warm feeling to their Catholic neighbours can be explained. Moreover, the bulk of them spoke White or Malo-Russian. These languages continued in use in judicial proceedings as late as the year 1697. The Lithuanian statute remained throughout in full force. [See Professor Daskevich, Zainietki po istorii Litov- skorusskago gosndarstva^ " Remarks on the History of the Lithuano-Russian State," Kiev, 1885.]
e. The Germans, who arrived in the country as early as the thirteenth century. They formed for the most part the burghers of the cities. They amounted to about two millions. They early obtained great influence in the country, and we are told of one of the Polish kings, Leszek the Black, that he especially affected their habits, dressing like a German and wear- ing his hair after their fashion.
/ The Armenians, who came early into Poland for the purposes of trade ; we find them settled
THE URGO-FINNISH RACE. t^
already in the thirteenth century. For a long time they preserved their devotion to the Orthodox faith, but after 1626 many were converted to the doctrines of the Uniates. Kromer thus speaks of them, " Ar- menii siiis ritibiis, siiaque lingua in sacris utuntiir. Non abhorrent ii tamen^ siciit accepimus^ a Rontana ecdesia et Romano pontifice ; quin principatiwi ejus in nniversa Christi ecclesia agnoscunty Their descendants are to be found in great numbers in Galicia, where in some parts an Armenian dialect is still spoken. It formed the subject of a learned treatise by the young scholar Hanusz, who was too soon lost to the Slavonic world.
2. Ugro-Finnish. Of this race the only inhabi- tants in Poland were the Esthonians in the Baltic provinces. Their literature is exceedingly scanty. Till quite recently the earliest specimens known were contained in some poems written to celebrate two marriages by a certain Reiner Brocmann of the years 1634, 1638, to which a third may be added composed by Joachim Saleman in 165 1 ; but lately there has been a discovery of several sermons in the Esthonian language, preserved among the archives of the city of Revel. These carry the literature back to quite the beginning of the seventeenth century (see Sitzungsberichte der geleJirten Estnischen gesell- schaft zu Dorpat, 1891). Moreover, the Esthonians, like their brothers the Finns, were destined to have a national epic. From the letters of Dr. Kreutzwald, the literary father of the so- called Kalewipoeg, we see that this epic was pieced together from fragments of genuine popular poetry, very much in the same
3
l8 THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE OF POLAND.
way as Macpherson composed his Ossian. The same process seems to have been carried on, more or less, in the case of the more famous Kalewala. It is somewhat curious that Kreutzwald himself should have recognised the suspicious character of this so-called epic in many respects. He was better able to do so because he was himself no mean adept in the art of such compositions. In one of his letters he speaks of the Kalewala as resembling Ossian : " Einzelnes mag filr Volkpoesie gelten^ aber selbst tritt eine nachhelfende Hand vor^ wdhrend a7idere Stellen aufstossen, die offenbar fremdes Element enthalten " (see VerJiandlungen der EstniscJien gesellscJiaft zu Dor- pat, 1 891).
3. The Semitic. The Jews came into Poland iri very early times ; they carried on a great part of the trade of the country. In all probability the oldest Jewish immigrants reached Poland from the countries on the Lower Danube and from the kingdom of the Khazars, who had accepted the Hebrew faith. The introduction of the Jews into the national sagas and the legends of the Church shows that they were very numerous and not without influence on the country. At the end of the eleventh century another stream of Jewish immigrants came from Germany. In the year 1264 Boleslas the Pious granted them certain privileges. At first these advantages were only con- ceded to the Jews of Great Poland, but they were extended in 1334 by Casimir the Great, who was probably in want of money. Some think that the Jewish statute enacted by this monarch was suggested by a privilege granted by Frederick, Duke of Austria,
THE y^EWS.
19
in 1244, which was frequently imitated afterwards. It is computed that the number of Jews in the countries which once formed Poland amounted to 2,200,000. They have never become assimilated, and they use German instead of the Polish language.
II.
THE SAGAS OF EARLY POLISH HISTORY.
For our knowledge of early Poland and its people we have only a confused mass of legends. Since these stories have been examined critically, historians are agreed in regarding everything as more or less fabulous till we come to the reign of Mieczyslaw I. (962-992). The first Polish chroniclers, Gallus, Kad- lubek, Dlugosz, and Kromer, who were ecclesiastics and used the Latin language as their literary medium, handling it with considerable dexterity, have treated these stories as genuine history. The more sober criticism of modern times, as shown in the writings of Lelewel and others, has relegated them to their proper place. We arc hardly likely to believe in the existence of a Duke Lech or a beautiful princess named Wanda, who flourished in the eighth century : or in Cracus, said to have been the founder of Cracow. All these are obviously only generic and national names individualised. Many of the quaint stories about these princes have done duty in the legendary history of other countries. They recall to us Tarquin and the poppies ; Zopyrus and Babylon ; Tell and the apple ; and other quaint traditions which
LESZEK.
21
may be claimed by so many lands. Thus the mythical hero, Przemyslas (Przemyslaw), forms clay figures of men with lances, swords, and bucklers ; the rays of the sun are reflected upon them, and the Hungarians, with whom he was contending, scared at the sight of these imaginary soldiers, beat a pre- cipitate retreat. The same story is told in Kent of the invasion of William the Conqueror. So also with reference to the horse-race, in which the crown was to be the prize of the victorious candidate. It is an old story of classical times. Lescus (Leszek) was of humble origin, became an excellent prince, and loved to gaze upon his former ragged habiliments, which were preserved, that he might be reminded of the lowly estate from which he had been called. In the same way the shoes of the peasant Premysl, the husband of Libusa, are said to have been long pre- served in the Hradschin at Prague ; one of the many points of identity between the Chekh and Polish legends.
Leszek was succeeded by his son of the same name, of whom in defiance of all chronology, Vincent Kadlubek tells us that he overcame Julius Caesar in three battles, and received his sister Julia in marriage, and that he also subdued Crassus, king of the Par- thians (!). We thus see Polish history rivalling the most absurd fictions of Geoffrey of Monmouth. The same may be said of the story of Popiel and the rats. This duke was a vicious man and had become, so the legend goes, so hateful to the whole nation that a conspiracy was formed against him, headed by his uncles. This he discovered, but concealing the infor-
22 THE SAGAS OF EARLY POLISH HISTORY.
mation he had received, invited them to an entertain- ment and caused them to be poisoned. Moreover, he refused to allow their bodies to be buried, and from the corpses sprang rats in countless numbers, which destroyed Popiel and all his family. This is a variant of the well-known legend of Bishop Hatto, which Southey has versified in so spirited a manner. Equally legendary is the account of the holy peasants, the parents of Piast ; the visit of the gods to their humble cabin ; their constantly replenished store, and the ultimate election of their son to the sovereignty. Whatever may have been their origin and the amount of truth contained in this strange story, it is matter of history that the Piasts ruled the country not less than six hundred and thirty years. The date fixed for their half-mythical ancestor is 842, but we cannot say any more with confidence than that the Piasts first came to power at some time during the ninth century.
Now that we have dealt in a somewhat summary fashion with these sagas, before we begin with the real historical period, the reign of Mieczyslaw I., a few words may be said as to what philologists and ethnologists have been able to discover of the origin of the Poles.
There seems reason to believe with Schafarik that their name is found in that of the Bulanes, who are mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy, who lived in the second century A.D. The name implies the dwellers of the plains (pole, a field) ; we can see by the map that Poland is a flat country. In its more fertile parts it reminds us of our own midland
THE LEKHS. 23
counties, but we rarely come upon the bolder features of nature. Jordanes (A.D. 552) speaks of Slavs as inhabiting the banks of the Vistula, but he has no distinct name for them. In the sixth or seventh centuries some people settled on that river are called Lekhs, a word which has never been satisfactorily explained. The older form probably had a nasal : hence we get in the Latin chroniclers LencJiitce, in Lithuanian, Lenkas, and in Magyar, Lengyel The name Lekh gradually made way for that of Polianc or Polaki. Nestor, the old Russian chronicler, or at all events the chronicle which goes under his name, speaks of the Poliane LiakJiove on the Vistula and the Poliane Rusove on the Dnieper. When we first become acquainted with the Poles we sec them living in their village communities, a purely agricultural people. They are found grouped about Gniezno, Kruszwica, and Cracow.
We can only make a passing allusion to the view of Szajnocha that the organisation of the Polish race, began like the Russian, from colonies of Norse settlers. He endeavoured to support this opinion by the interpretation of some of the names, but is not considered to have succeeded, although few persons at the present time would deny its truth in the case of the Russians. Here and there in the old Polish stories, as in the Russian, we seem to come upon versions of Scandinavian sagas, but by far the greater portion of them can be shown to be replicas of old Bohemian legend ; thus Cracus reminds us of Krok and Prcmysl of his Bohemian namesake, and we find many similar instances in the pages of Cosmas, the
24 THE SAGAS OF EARLY POLISH HISTORY.
old Bohemian chronicler. The parallel is further strengthened when we see that so much of the earliest Polish literature which has come down to us is modelled upon that of the Chekhs ; thus the Polish hymn to the Virgin has its Bohemian prototype, and the early Polish translations of the Bible were modelled upon Bohemian.
III.
THE RISE OF POIJSH NATIONALITY. FROM THE REIGN OF MIECZYSLAW I. (962) TO THE DEATH OF BOLESLAS THE BRAVE (1026).
The first undoubted historical event in which Poland is concerned relates to the year 963, when in the time of the German Emperor Otho I. the Mark-
SEAL OF MIESZKO THE ELDER.
graf Geron conquered the heathen prince Mieczyslaw or Mieszko, to use the abridged form of his name by which he is frequently mentioned, who ruled over the
26 THE RISE OF POLISH NATIONALITY,
Poles in the country on the Warta from the Oder to the Vistula, and made him pay tribute to the emperor. In 965 we are told that Mieczyslaw became a Chris- tian, in order to gain the hand of D^browka, the daughter of Bolcslas, the King of Bohemia. By these means he consolidated the power of the Sla- vonic tribes against the ever-increasing encroachments of the Germans. The form of Christianity received was the Latin, and thus Poland is at the outset in contrast to Russia, whose civilisation was Greek and Byzantine. According to some writers, traces of an early Greek Christianity were originally to be found in Poland. Mieczyslaw succeeded in bringing his subjects over to the faith which he had adopted, with the assistance of St. Adalbert, the bishop of Prague. In 977 D^browka died, and in 982 he married Oda, the daughter of a German Markgraf Mieczyslaw acknowledged himself the feudatory of Otho, the German Emperor, and, dying at Posen, was buried there, aged sixty-one. In that city, in 968, he had founded a bishopric, which was considered dependent upon that of Magdeburg. The first bishop was Jordan.
Mieczyslaw was succeeded by his son Boleslas (Boleslaw), surnamed the Brave, or the Great (992- 1026). Otho III., of Germany, visited this prince and raised his duchy into a kingdom. The splendour of the ceremonies attending their meeting is fully described by the Polish chroniclers. It is thus that Kromcr narrates the circumstances : Otho was re- ceived by Boleslas and treated together with all his attendants with more than regal magnificence
OTHO III. AND BOLESLAS. 27
and liberality, and presented with splendid gifts, an abacus (counting board), and all the gold and silver plate on the table, a new service of which was brought out each day. He also gave him valuable curtains and robes. Whereupon the Emperor, wishing to con- fer equal favours upon his host and friend, after a conference with his councillors who accompanied him, addressed him as king and ally and friend of the Roman Empire, and free from all tribute and imperial jurisdiction. Moreover, he placed the diadem upon himj Gaudentius, the archbishop presiding at the ceremony ; and he declared that the honours of a king should remain to him and his posterity reigning in Poland. To these, he added, as the gift of a guest the lance of St. Maurice, which may still be seen in the Cathedral of Cracow, where is the bishop's seat, and in return he received the arm of St. Adalbert from the new king. So far Kromer. St. Adalbert had for a short time been the second archbishop of Gnesen, but feeling it a sacred duty to preach the gospel among the heathen Prussians, he had gone there and suffered martyrdom. Boleslas was only able to purchase his body at a great price, so that it might be kept as a sacred relic at Gnesen. The events of his life are figured on the brazen gates of the cathedral.
On the death of Otho III., in 1002, the relations between Boleslas and the Germans changed. The quarrels about the imperial throne enabled him to con- quer all Lusatia and Misnia. He brought back from exile Boleslas HI., the Prince of Bohemia ; and on the latter breaking faith with him he took possession of his country and also Moravia. Then began a long
28 THE RISE OF POLISH NATIONALITY.
and tedious war between Poland and the Emperor Henry II., against whom Boleslas was infuriated be- cause at a meeting at Merseburg, he had almost lost his life through treachery. The Polish monarch, accor- dingly, entered into relation with all those who were ill-disposed towards the Emperor. But the first expe- dition was unfortunate for Boleslas : his allies acted feebly, Misnia was first lost and then Bohemia Lusatia was laid waste. But finally, in 1013, peace was made between them at Merseburg, according to which all Slavonic territory beyond the Oder was freed from German rule. Boleslas then set about the subjugation of the Pomeranians and the heathen Prus- sians. Missionaries were left among them to instruct them in the doctrines of Christianity, and an iron pillar was erected between Rogozno and Laszczyn as a sign of their subjugation, from whence the city of Slupa took its name (ship, Pol. pillar). The most famous, however, of the wars of Boleslas was that with Yaroslav, Prince of Kiev, who had expelled his brother Sviatopolk. Boleslas embraced the cause of Sviatopolk, and a battle took place on the banks of the Bug in 10 1 6, in which he was victorious. He is said to have been stimulated to join battle with the enemy by the jeers of a Russian soldier who made fun of his corpulence. Sviatopolk was restored, but he behaved with treachery to Boleslas, who on a subsequent occa- sion is said to have taken Kiev and to have struck the golden gate, the ruins of which still exist, with his sword. Our chief authorities for these transactions are Thietmar, the German chronicler, and Martin Gallus. JJolcslas died in 1025 at Poscn, and was there buried.
BOLE SL AS THE GREAT. ^Q
He was fifty- eight years of age, and had reigned thirty-three years. He had taken the title of King of Poland ; his great idea was to make Poland a powerful state in opposition to Germany.
His reign was one of great progress for the nation : many new cities were built, trade was increased, Greek merchants were induced to visit the country, and money was coined. To spread Christianity more effectually among his subjects, Boleslas sent for some Benedictine Monks from France, and founded mona- steries for them on Lysa Gora, at Sieciechowa, and Tynec ; in his time also schools were established. We are told that all the people wore mourning for him during a year. He was, in reality, one of the few vigorous monarchs of Poland. He had largely extended her territory, having added White Croatia (Bialo-Chrobacya) with Cracow as far as the Carpa- thians, the towns of Galicia, and the Baltic coast. By founding the archbishopric of Gnesen,he established an independent Polish church, to which he subordinated the other bishoprics which he had made, including Posen, created by his father. Unfortunately, during his long wars with the Germans, the Polabes, a powerful tribe which occupied the territory now included in the territory of Hanover, were lost to the Slavs, and in course of time became more and more Germanised, although their language did not die out till the earlier part of last century. It has survived in many names of places, and also in a few vocabularies which have been preserved. A grammar of this interesting language was written by August Schleicher. Thus by the commencement of the eleventh century Poland
30 THE RISE OF POLISH NATIONALITY.
had absorbed nearly all the western Slavonic states, including Bohemia. Of the internal condition of the country during this period we have very few accurate details, as Dr. Schiemann truly remarks. We find no trace in Poland, as we do in Russia, of vec/ies, or popular assemblies : the king confers with his comiies and the bishops. Society is organised entirely upon a military basis. The country is divided into opolje or viciniae — Thietmar uses the words pagi and pro- vincice — and the king's governors or castellans were stationed in the towns or fortresses. Most of the towns appear to have been kept in this way in a state of defence, and were generally the seats of bishoprics. The privileged class in whose hands lay the power was called the Szlachta, a word probably derived from the German Geschlecht. Of the condition of the rural population we shall speak afterwards. At the present time we get no mention of it ; but it is obvious that the frequent wars of Boleslas must have filled the country with captives, who, according to the laws of war of the time, became slaves. It will be seen what effect their existence had upon the pre- rural population.
IV.
?ROM THE DEATH OF BOLESLAS THE BRAVE TO THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF PRZEMY- SLAW I.
BOLESLAS was succeeded by his son Mieczyslaw II. (1026-1034), of whom it will be enough to say that he divided Poland into palatinates. His reign was in other respects insignificant. He was the second of the three sons of Boleslas, the names of his brothers being Bezprim and Dobremir. It is not known whether Boleslas had divided his kingdom among his sons, as was so frequently the custom at the time ; perhaps Mieczyslaw had been able to drive out Bezprim. He soon became involved in a quarrel with Conrad, the German Emperor, who probably would be ill-pleased with his having assumed the title of king without his consent. Conrad seems to have assisted Bezprim in his attempt to gain the throne, and he returned to Poland and obtained the supremacy, fully confessing his subordination to the German Emperor by means of an embassy. He was, how- ever, soon after murdered. Mieczyslaw, who had fled, then returned. In 1034 he died. He is said by some to have been a very weak king ; certainly
32 FROM DEATH OF BOLESLAS TO PRZEMYSLAW I.
in his time Poland greatly receded from the position she had held during the life of his father. Not only the part on the Baltic coast was lost, and also Moravia, but those portions of territory in the east which had been gained at the expense of Russia. According to Dr. Schiemann, it is in this reign that we can first dis- tinctly trace the power of the Polish Szlachta or nobility, destined to play so important a part in the subsequent history. Moreover, owing to the weakness of the government, there was a great recrudescence of paganism ; for we can easily believe that Christianity had hardly yet become firmly planted in the country. Mieczyslaw was succeeded by his son Casimir (Kazi- mierz, 1040- 105 8), during whose minority his mother, Ryxa, as she is called by the Polish annalists, was regent. The exact form of her name was Richeza. She was a German, and daughter of a certain Pfalz- graf Ego. She appears, however, to have soon be- come unpopular, probably on account of her German leanings, and was obliged to quit the country. It was in Masovia that the heathen party, led by a certain Moislaw, had its stronghold ; in order to make head against them, Casimir formed an alliance with Jaroslaw, the Prince of Kiev, and married his sister Maria, otherwise called Dobrogniewa or Dobronega. In consequence of this, in 1 041, he received the as- sistance of some Russian troops, but, probably as a condition of their help, was obliged to cede definitely to Kiev some of the Red Russian cities which Poland had acquired. By his marriage with the Russian princess, who thereupon abjured the Greek faith, he became the brother-in-law of Henry I. of France,
THE INTERDICT. 33
who had married another sister. The suzerainty of the German Empire over Poland was again firmly established. Casimir induced several monks to come from Cluny in France, and founded two monasteries for them, one near Cracow, and the other in Silesia, which at that time formed part of the Polish kingdom. Casimir died in the year 1058, and was buried at Posen. Boleslas II., the eldest of the four sons of Casimir, succeeded him. The period of his coming to the throne was a very favourable one for Poland. Germany was in a great state of disturbance on the death of the Emperor, Henry III. Boleslas allied himself with the Russians, and some enemies of the Germans, and on Christmas Eve, in the year 1076, assumed the kingly crown. But he came into conflict with the spiritual power in the person of Stanislaus, the Bishop of, Cracow, and killed him with his own hand. The bishop had put all the churches of Cracow under an interdict. Such a crime was not likely to go unpunished in those days. Gregory VII. (Hilde- brand) extended the interdict to the whole kingdom. Boleslas was driven out of the country, and died in Hungary in 1082, without, as far we know, having made any attempt to regain his lost crown. His subjects called to the throne his brother Ladislaus (Wladyslaw). Anxious to have the interdict removed, he at once despatched ambassadors to the Pope, who, although he allowed the churches to be reopened, refused to ratify the title of king ; for more than two hundred years (1079- 1295) Poland remained, as it had originally been, a simple duchy. Ladislaus was twice married ; by his first wife, Judith, daughter
4
34 FROM DEATH OF BOLESLAS TO PRZEMYSLAW I.
of the Bohemian Duke Vratislav, he had a son, Boleslas, who afterwards succeeded him ; his second wife was Sofia, daughter of the German Emperor. Ladislaus was engaged in wars with the Bohemians and the Pomeranians. Already before his death his son Boleslas had distinguished himself. Ladislaus died at Plock in 1 102, as was suspected, of poison. Not long before his death he had married Boleslas to the daughter of Sviatopolk, the Grand Duke of Kiev.
Boleslas III. (1102-1139) was surnamed Krzy- wousty, or the wry-mouthed, his mouth being slightly twisted on account of a wound. We shall find many Polish kings, like our own, with similar quaint nicknames. He was a redoubtable warrior, and conquered and converted to Christianity, with the aid of St. Otho, the Pomeranians from the Oder to the Vistula. In the short period of about nine months Otho had induced all the important towns in their territory to accept Christianity, and had baptized 22,166 persons. On February 11, 1 125, he came back to Poland. Unfortunately, like the Russian princes, he parcelled out his dominions among his four sons. This weakened the rising nationality ; among other disadvantages, Silesia was lost to Poland, having become partly Germanised under the Germanised princes of the elder lines of the Piasts. The Polish language, however, is still spoken in some of its districts. The dominions of Boleslas finally devolved to his youngest son Casimir, who reigned from 1 178-1194, and is chiefly remem- bered as having summoned a council of the bishops and nobles at Lgczyca, and thus having laid the
CONRAD OF MASOVIA. 35
foundations of the Polish senate. The order of Cistercian monks was also introduced into the country. The reigns of Leszek V., the White, Ladislaus III., and Boleslas V., present little worthy our attention. Conrad, Duke of Masovia, and brother
A CUP PRESERVED IN THE CATHEDRAL OF I'LOCK, GIVEN BY CONRAD I., DUKE OF MASOVIA.
of Leszek, allowed the order of Teutonic knights to settle in the Polish territories on the Baltic, from whom the Prussian monarchy, one of the great
36 FROM DEATH OF BOLESLAS TO PRZEMYSLAW I.
enemies of the republic, was afterwards to develop itself. He gave them the territory of Chelm and all that they could conquer from the heathen Prussians. These Teutonic knights were originally an order founded at Jerusalem to take care of the pilgrims who resorted thither. They were established by the Pope in 1 191. Their habit was a black coat and a white cloak with a black cross ; their weapon a large sword without any ornament ; they slept upon a bed of straw ; originally for diet they were only allowed bread and water. An oath was taken by each candi- date on entering that he was of German blood, of noble family, and that he would lead a life of chastity. Forty noble Germans at once became members of the order as soon as it had been confirmed by the Pope. We shall find these knights afterwards amalgamated with the sword-bearers of Livonia.
In the reign of Boleslas V. (i 227-1 279) a great Mongolian invasion occurred. These barbarians, issuing from their fastnesses in the steppes on the banks of the Volga and in the Crimea, made an incursion into Poland, but after the victory of Lignica (Liegnitz), in Silesia in 1241, they were diverted into Hungary. They carried off many prisoners and much plunder. We are told that nine sacks were filled with the ears of the slain. It was also in this reign that large colonies of Germans settled in the country. They were established as free inhabitants of the land, in contradistinction to the Polish peasant, who was becoming more and more enslaved and weighed down by the con^c^e required of him. A whole series of German towns sprung up. Owing to the little inch-
LESZEK, THE BLACK. ^y
nation of the natives for trade, which seems a charac- teristic of the Slavs, commerce in the towns fell almost entirely into the hands of these colonists, who enjoyed peculiar privileges, and were governed by laws of their own as embodied in the /?is Magdeburgicum ; up to the time of Casimir the Great they had a right of appeal to the magistrate at Magdeburg. It is from this time that we can trace the introduction of many German words into the Polish language. It was in the thirteenth century also that the Armenians first made their appearance in the country. They became of great importance as traders, and under their influence the city of Lemberg (Lwow) attained considerable prosperity. Of Leszek, surnamcd the Black, who succeeded (i 279-1 289), the reign was un- eventful, but Przemyslaw, who began to rule in 1295, reconstituted Poland as a kingdom without troubling himself about the papal authority, and received the crown from his nobles and clergy at Gnesen. Of him we shall speak in the following chapter.
V.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF PRZEMY- SLAW I. (1295) TO THE MARRIAGE OF JAD- WIGA AND JAGIELLO (1386).
Przemyslaw promised to be an efficient ruler, but was not destined to occupy the throne for more than seven months, being murdered at Rogozno, not far from Posen, and close to the Prussian frontier Pass- ing over Wencelaus (Waclaw), who was also King of Bohemia, we come to Ladislaus Lokietek, or the Dwarf (so called from Lokiec an ell, on account of his shortness). The most noteworthy event of his reign was his war with the Teutonic knights, in which he was glad to make peace, although in 1 331 he gained a victory over them at Plowcze in Cujavia. The war led to no very definite result, but during the time of Wladyslaw we see the great rise of the Lithuanian principality under Gedymin. Some heretics made their appearance in Poland about this time, advoca- ting communistic doctrines ; they were suppressed, and from this dates the establishment of the Inquisi- tion in Poland in a somewhat mild form, which lasted till the reign of Sigismund I. About 13 12 Cracow
38
LADISLAUS LOKIETEK.
39
becomes prominent as the capital, and around it is p-athered the national life : Ladislaus Lokietek was the first monarch crowned there. Ladislaus had
SEAL OF I'RZEMYSLAW I., DUKE OF GREAT POLAND.
married Jadwiga, the daughter of Boleslas, prince of Kalisz : he died at the aged of 73 in 1 333, after an agitated life, and was buried in the cathedral at
40 FROM THE YEAR 1 295 TO 1386.
Gracovv. The granite monument over his remains shows the life-sized statue of the king.
Concerning the .internal condition of the country more will be said in a subsequent chapter ; there were only two classes of people (excluding the ecclesiastics), the szlachta, or nobility, and the narod, or people. The burghers in the towns were Germans. The narod was divided into the free peasants {liberi), and those attached to the glebe (adscripticii, adscripti, servi glebce), who were the property of their masters. The free peasants paid a rent to the owner of the land which they cultivated, but could leave it when they felt, inclined. About this time the word cmeto, or kmetJio, begins to make its appearance in documents. It has been derived by some from the Latin comes. It originally included both free and bond. Traces also of something like a parliamentary system accord- ing to Dr. Schiemann, may be found for the first time in the councils which began to be held to discuss the affairs of the kingdom and to administer justice.
Ladislaus was succeeded by his son Casimir III., who has earned among his countrymen the appella- tion of the great, and also that of the peasants' king (Krol Chlopow). The material prosperity of the country increased under his rule. Commerce was developed, and Cracow and Danzig became members of the Hanseatic League. We also begin to hear of Warsaw, which was destined subsequently to become the capital. Ladislaus had assembled the first known SeyjHy or Diet, at Ch^ciny {generalem omnium terrarum conventwii) ; it consisted of the princes (we find the X.Q.wxis principes, proccrcs, nobiles continually recurring),
G ALICIA ACQUIRED. 4I
prelates, barons, and knights. Casimir in 1364 laid the foundation of the University of Cracow by the estab- lishment in the village of Wawel (now Kazimierz, the suburb of Cracow), a studiiim generale of the three faculties — law, medicine, and philosophy. But the attempt did not succeed ; there was a lack of pro- fessors, and no definite results of teaching were ob- tained. Finally, in the time of Lewis, the successor
SEAL OF CASIMIR THE GREAT.
of Casimir, the institution came to an end, and the Polish youth repaired for education to the sister uni- versity of Prague. It was reserved for Queen Jad- wiga and her husband Ladislaus Jagiello to carry out the plan of Casimir. In 1340 the principality of Galicia was united to Poland : the last duke had died the preceding year, and his territory lay at the mercy of the invader. The Poles, therefore, were not long before they seized it. We must remember that in
42 PROM THE YEAR 1295 TO 1386.
earlier times some of its towns had belonged to them. It has never been thoroughly Polonized, the bulk of the population even to the present day speaking the Malo-Russian language.
In 1347 was held the celebrated diet of Wislica near Cracow, at which the so-called statute was enacted, the first monument of the Polish jurispru- dence. The code consists of two parts: (i) that dealing with Great Poland, which was enacted at Piotrkow ; and (2) that dealing with Little Poland, at Wislica. They were formed into one code in 1368. Throughout her history we shall see that the pro- vinces of Poland had many separate laws and privi- leges. These statutes are in the Latin language, which was then much used in the country. We have seen that a national diet was at this time a regular feature of the country ; it consisted of the barons and upper clergy. We hear nothing of the burghers being admitted, and indeed nothing corresponding to a native middle class existed in Poland. The free peasants and the serfs, strictly so called, who had no rights —sometimes called parobki or originarii^ besides the names by which they have been already men- tioned— were already becoming fused into a class of mere bondmen. The number of peasants, taken in the wars, who were reduced to slavery had a depressing influence upon the condition of the free peasants. Wherever, as Chicherin says, such relations have existed, they have invariably had a tendency to cause the free peasants to be enslaved. The same thing appears to have occurred in Russia, where the peasant became enslaved gradually and for economic reasons.
GERMANS IN POLAND. 43
In the statute of Wislica are many enactments favour- able to the peasant : the wretched condition into which he sunk in Poland will be fully discussed in a subse- quent chapter.
The reign of Casimir saw a continual influx of Ger- man artisans and traders into Poland, but he took away the appeal to Magdeburg in 1364, and established a
SEAL OF THE CITY OF CRACOW (1333-1370).
court for the citizens at Cracow. Many handsome build- ings were erected throughout the country, and security of life and property was established. The chronicler Jan von Czarnkow has left us a long list of the fortresses and towns built by this really great monarch. Though Casimir was thrice married, he had but one child, and she was a daughter. He
;44 FROM THE YEAR 1295 TO 1386.
convoked a Diet at Cracow on the 8th of May, 1339, in which he proposed as his successor his nephew, Louis of Hungary, the son of his sister Elizabeth. This was to concede to the diet a very important "privilege, that of electing their sovereigns. The nobles soon made use of the concession. Before they allowed Louis to succeed they exacted some important terms from him v/hich were the foundation of the pacla conventa.
Casimir was engaged in constant wars with the Russians, Lithuanians, and Mongols. The kingdom was put in an admirable state of defence by an ordinance something like our commission of array ; on an appeal called Wici^ every one, at the first summons, had to get ready for the war. At the second every man mounted his horse and betook himself to the place appointed for the gathering. At the third they were organized by the Castellan, who handed them over to the Wojewode. When the whole host was gathered together, the supreme command belonged to the king.
In 1334 the great statute concerning the Jews was enacted. There is also another statute called privilegia Jiidceorimi, dated 1357. Casimir is said to have favoured the Jews on account of his fondness for a Jewess named Esther, but the tale is rejected by the historian Caro. We have seen the king successful both in his foreign wars and the internal development of the country. The privileges granted by the Jils Magde- burgicum, filled in a short time the cities and villages which had been devastated by the Tatars and other enemies with German settlers, Armenians and Jews.
. FESTIVITIES AT CRACOWr .\ 45.
Trade was carried on with Nuremberg, Augsburg," Venice, the Hungarians, Southern Russia, and Eng- land. But Casimir is considered by the Poles to have been a luxurious sovereign ; John of Czarnkow, the archdeacon of Gnesen, has told us of the brilliant scenes which occurred at Cracow in December, 1363, when the king, in conjunction with Duke Bolko of Schweidnitz, acted as umpire in a dispute between the Emperor Charles and King Louis of Hungary. Charles married Elizabeth, the granddaughter of the Polish king, and held his wedding festivities at Cracow. The Emperor, four kings, and numerous princes and lords were present on this brilliant occasion. We can irhagine how picturesque the fine old city must have appeared —
. ** \yith store of ladies,, whose bright eyes 'Rain'd influence and adjudged the prize."
There were, however, . dark sides to this picture. Casimir, who was a man of very irregular life, was not happy in his matrimonial alliances. . Wladyslaw, his father, had effected a. marriage for him with Anna Aldona, the daughter of Gedymin, the Prince of Lithuania.. After: her death he contracted a marriage with Margaret, the' daughter of John of Bohemia, killed at the battle, of :Crecy.' But she is said to have died . of grief . at" her approaching union with a man whom she disliked. In 1341 Casimir married Adelaide of Hesse, a woman of no per- sonal attractions. With her he soon ^quarrelled, and banished her to the castle of Jarnowec," where she remained fifteen years without .seeing her hus-
46 FROM THE YEAR 1 2 95 TO 1 386.
band. The conduct of Casinnir was so licentious that, after useless remonstrances, the Archbishop of Cracow excommunicated him, and sent a priest to bring to him the intelligence of his punishment. But the unfortunate ecclesiastic was doomed to expiate his courage by being thrust into a dungeon at once, and during the night thrown into the Vistula. He was thus destined to have the same fate as St, John Nepomuk suffered for administering a rebuke to the drunken Wenceslaus of Bohemia. Casimir, however, afterwards submitted himself to the Pope and received absolution. His third wife was Jadwiga, daughter of the Prince of Glogau.
In some of his foreign political measures, Casimir did not show his usual prudence. His father on his death-bed had advised him to make no concessions to the Margrave of Brandenburg, nor to the Teutonic knights, whom the Poles had foolishly allowed to settle down close by them. But Casimir, to save Cujavia and Dobrzyn, which had been seized by the knights, gave up Pomerania to them in spite of the remonstrance of the Pope. He also bought off the claims of the King of Bohemia to the crown of Poland by the cession of all Silesia, now almost completely German. The Polish tongue, however, may still be heard in the neighbourhood of Oppeln, and even in some parts of Breslau (Wroclaw), although the town is now completely Germanized.
Casimir's death was caused by a fall from his horse while hunting, near Cracow, on the 3th of November, 1370. He lies buried in the Cathedral of Cracow, which contains so many interesting
y AD WIG A. 47
monuments of the Polish kings. His tomb is of reddish-brown marble. The monarch is represented as lying under a baldachin, supported by pillars ; he is clothed in his royal mantle ; his crowned head rests on a cushion ; in his hand he holds the sceptre and globe, and a lion is at his feet. So rests the great king in his capital, which has now passed into the hands of his enemies. His monument gives us an authentic portrait of him ; his contemporaries speak of him as a man of compact build, with a broad forehead and curly hair.
He was succeeded by Louis of Hungary (1370- 1382), whose reign is insignificant for Polish history, except that the power of the nobility is still con- stantly on the increase. At the diet of Koszyczin, 1574, he secured the throne to his daughter Jadwiga, as he had no male offspring ; but only by conceding great privileges to the nobility which again foreshadow the pacta conve^ita ; he freed among other things the szlachta almost entirely from taxation. He died in 1382, and with him the male line of the Piasts ended.
One of the earliest of the interregnums now occurred which were always fraught with so much mischief to Poland. Jadwiga, the daughter of Louis, succeeded, but was compelled by the diet to marry Jagiello, the Lithuanian prince, with a view to the union of that country with Poland. We have already said some- thing about this country. The derivation of the name Litwa is obscure ; we do not hear anything about the people till the beginning of the thirteenth century. They were obscure barbarians, inhabiting a corner of Europe. At that period Mindovg, one of
TOMB OF CASIMIR THE GREAT IN THE CATHEDRAL AT CRACOW.
LADISLAUS ^AGIELLO. 49
their chiefs, formed his territories into a principality, and the importance of the country was at its height, under one of his successors, Gedymin, who contrived to get into his possession many of the Russian cities, including even Kiev. The capital of this Lithua- nian state was Wilno, and it extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The official language of the country was White Russian, and in this tongue its laws were promulgated. In 1240, the Lithuanians had already come into contact with the Teutonic knights, their redoubtable foes.
Jadwiga was a woman of beauty and spirit, and Jagiello is said to have been a man of savage manners, but she consented to the union, although she had half given her affections to an Austrian prince. Lithuania was thus annexed to Poland ; a more complete federation took place at Lublin in the year 1569. Jagiello was a pagan, but was ready to turn Christian, and, indeed, was born of a Christian mother. He also numbered among his subjects many members of the Orthodox Church, with whose creed neither he nor his predecessors appear to have interfered. A marriage, as we have seen, had previously taken place between the sovereigns of the two countries, as the first wife of Casimir the Great, Anna Aldona, was a daughter of Gedymin, the Lithuanian prince. The Austrian archduke, to whom Jadwiga had previously plighted her troth, made his appearance with a splendid retinue at Cracow ; but, finding that nothing could come of his suit, retired. In 1386 Jagiello married Jadwiga, and took the name of Ladislaus (Wadyslaw) on his conversion, and in his person begins the
5
50
FROM THE YEAR I2g5 TO I386.
dynasty of the Jagiellos, which lasted for nearly two centuries, terminating in 1572 with Sigismund Augustus. We might even say that it lasted nearly a century longer, omitting the short and brilliant reign of Stephen Batory (i 576-1 586), for Sigismund III. was the son of Catharine, sister of Sigismund II. and Wladyslaw IV. and John Casimir were his sons.
-SliAL OF CAbliMlR THE GREAT.
II
VI.
THE EARLY JAGIELLOS. FROM LADISLAUS JAGIELLO TO SIGISMUND I.
(1 386-1 507.)
Poland was now steadily advancing in prosperity, and gradually assuming its position as the great power of Eastern Europe ; which it continued to be till nearly the close of the seventeenth century. After Jagiello had been baptized, his Lithuanian subjects followed his example, undergoing the same com- pulsory conversion which the Russians had ex- perienced in the time of Vladimir. They seem, however, from the narratives of travellers to have preserved many heathen customs for a long time afterwards. Herberstein, who visited Russia at the commencement of the sixteenth century, has some strange stories to tell us, and we shall find a recru- descence of their paganism, as we have done in the case of the Poles at an earlier period. The Teutonic order felt like Othello, that their occupation was gone when the heathen Lithuanians had been converted, and there was no further need of their " apostolic blows and knocks." Their position, indeed, was a precarious
52 THE EARLY yAGtELLOS.
one, surrounded as they were by powerful and united enemies. They betook themselves to intrigue, and there are even found indications of a plan which the Grand Master had entered into for dismember- ing the country ; they looked to any of the neigh- bouring peoples who were hostile to the growing state. The nobles gained some important conces- sions from Ladislaus ; the fusion of the two states was not a light matter, and we shall see in the course of our narrative to what jealousies it gave rise. They secured for themselves exemption from all taxes when called to serve beyond the frontiers, and an allowance of five marks a day for every horseman ; they also procured the exclusion of members of the royal family from all the higher offices of the state, which they reserved for themselves. Jagiello displeased his old subjects by transferring his residence to Cracow, and during his reign there was a simultaneous rising of the pagan and Orthodox Lithuanians, the latter dreading the influence of Catholicism. They put themselves under Vitovt, the grandson of Gedymin, and made such a vigorous stand, that Jagiello, in 1392, created Lithuania into a sort of appanage of the crown of Poland under Vitovt, who died in 1430, aged eighty. One of the results of the new union was a vigorous attack of the combined forces against their old enemies, the Teutonic knights, whom they defeated at the great battle of Grlinwald, near Tanncnbcrg in Prussia, in 1 410, in which Ulrich von Jungingen, the Grand Master, was killed. In one of the battles between the Teutonic knights and the Lithuanians, Henry Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry
VITOVT. 53
IV. of England, fought. Chaucer, it will be remem- bered, says of his knight —
" Ful ofte time he had the bord bygonne Aboven alle naciouns in Pruce ; In Lettowe hadde he reysed and in Ruce."
On the day after the battle King Ladisiaus wrote to his (second) wife Anna and to the Bishop of Posen. The letters have been preserved ; a translation of the former is given in his History by Dr. Schie- mann. Ladisiaus died in 1434, and was succeeded by his son of the same name. His Queen Jadwiga had deceased in 1 399 ; she was greatly beloved by her subjects. Her husband married three times after her death ; his second wife was Anna, his third Elizabeth, a widow, and the fourth Sophia, a princess of Kiev. Although he had really forfeited his crown on the death of Jadwiga, in whose right he held it ; yet the Poles, seeing the advantage of the union of Poland and Lithuania, continued him in his position. One of the most important results of the battle of Tannenberg was the closer union of the Poles and Lithuanians ; the country of the latter began to be organised on the same basis as Poland ; Palatines and Castellans were appointed at Wilno and Troki. The attempts to introduce the Roman Catholic reli- gion throughout the whole land were not so successful. Vitovt, already mentioned, summoned a synod of the Orthodox clergy at Nowogrodek, with the view of guaranteeing the independence of the Lithuanian Church. Its only rulers were to be the Metropolitan of Kiev and the Patriarch of Constantinople. He is
54 THE EARLY yAGIELLOS.
even said to have aimed at a union of the Greek and Latin Churches. Gregory Zemblak, whom Vitovt had appointed the new Metropolitan of Kiev, was sent by him to Constance with nineteen suffragan bishops to bring this about. In 142 1 Vitovt at the invitation of the Bohemians showed himself willing to accept their crown, but Sigismund succeeded in getting it, although he had made himself hateful to the Bohemian nation by his disgraceful betrayal of Huss at the Council of Constance. Although ^neas Sylvius has painted with no friendly hand the great Lithuanian, Vitovt — for so he may rightly be termed — yet, obscure as his history may be, from what has been told us about him we do not learn any parti- cular deeds of cruelty ; he appears, however, when it suited him, to have been somewhat treacherous. Besides Lithuanian and Russian, he spoke German, probably also Polish and Latin ; all the documents of his chancery are in Russian.
Of Jagiello, we are told in the chronicles that he was a very tender-hearted man, and kindly in lan- guage ; he was of short statue— his monument in the Cathedral of Cracow gives us a life-like representation of him.
Ladislaus, his son, although a mere youth, was also elected King of Bohemia and Hungary. But going on an expedition against the Turks, then more and more encroaching upon the Eastern Empire, he was killed at the battle of Varna in 1444. During his reign the country had chiefly been ruled by the powerful ecclesiastic Zbigniew Olesnicki (t 1454), a kind of Polish Wolsey, who had done much tg
THE TREATY OF THORN. 55
crush Hussitism among the Poles, and laboured to bring the regal power into subordination to the ecclesiastical. He had urged Ladislaus to undertake the expedition which led to the disaster of Varna. The young king was only in his twenty-first year, and his memory, as Kromer the historian tells us, was long cherished amongst his countrymen, although, during his brief reign, he almost drained the treasury to pay for his expeditions. The circumstances of his death have been narrated in the "Memoirs of a Polish Janissdny" (Pamiet/iz^i /anc^ara Polakd). It has been shown by the Bohemian scholar Jirecek that the author was a Serb, a certain Michael Constantinovich from Ostrovitsa. He composed his work in Poland. There is an old version of it in the Bohemian language.
After a brief interregnum Casimir, brother of the deceased king, was chosen to succeed him (1447-1492). The Poles still carried on their battles with the Teutonic knights, their unwearied foes. Finally, a treaty of peace was signed at Thorn in 1466, of which the terms were as follows : — Western Prussia, including Pomerania and the cities of Danzig and Thorn, among others, were to belong to Casimir, while Eastern Prussia was left to the knights, who were, however, to hold it as a fief of the crown, and each subsequent Grand Master was to be the vassal {holdoivnik) of the Polish king and senate. After the death of Ladislaus, in 1444, both Bohemia and Hungary gave up the union with Poland — an un- natural one at best, as it has been truly called. The Bohemians elected George Podebrad, one of their
56 THE EARLY JAGIELLOS.
wisest kings and a native of the country ; the Hungarians, Mathias Corvinus, the son of Hunyady. In 1485, Stephen the vojevode of Moldavia was compelled to own the suzerainty of Poland.
But besides her German, Hungarian, and Bohemian foes, there was now^ growing up contiguous to Poland the great Muscovite Empire, which was consolidated by Ivan III., an astute ruler. The history of Poland will henceforth show continual struggles between that country and the Turks and Tatars in the south.
The reign of Casimir IV. was very important in a constitutional point of view ; in this reign the nobles first elected deputies {posly) to attend the diet, when they themselves were unable to be present. Some mischievous laws were also passed aggravating the bondage of the serfs. Previously it was possible for a serf who had been ill-treated to fly from his lord ; now it was enacted that he must be surrendered on demand, and penalties w^ere incurred by any one who harboured him. The constitution of the Polish Republic (Rzeczpospolita, as it was called, with the accent on the antepenultimate, contrary to the rule of the language) was now thoroughly established, and from this reign the power of the diets began. The statute of Nicszawa (not far from Thorn), in 1454, has been called the Polish Magna Charta ; it is the great charter of the rights and privileges of the Polish nobility. Casimir is considered by many writers to have been an indolent sovereign. During his reign Ivan III. incorporated the old republic of Novgorod with Russia; later on we shall find Basil, his suc- cessor, getting possession of Novgorod Severski and
CASIMIR IV.
Smolensk, the latter so important from its strategic position.
Casimir died at Troki, a castle, not far from Wilno, in 1492. His illness was a dropsy, and when the physician told him that there was no further hope,
THE CATHEDRAL AT CRACOW IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM. FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES.
he receivea the news very quietly ; "Mormidum ergo,'' was all that he replied. He found time, however, before his death to entreat the Polish and Lithuanian nobles to secure the throne to his son, In the opinion
58 THE EARLY yAGIELLOS.
of some historians, Casimir was not a bad king, but his virtues were rather those of a private man than a monarch. He was above middle stature, with a long, thin face, as we see represented on the handsome monument in red porphyry erected to him in the Cathedral of Cracow. The sculptor was a citizen of Cracow named Wit Stwosz, in which form some see the German name, Veit Stoss. In his leanness and general appearance Casimir reminds us greatly of his contemporary — our Henry VH. Another personal characteristic which we have of him is that he lisped. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of the Emperor Albert.
Upon the king's death there were some troubles about the succession. Lithuania, which still stood in only loose relations with her sister-state, held an independent diet and elected Alexander, a son of Casimir's, as prince of Lithuania. In return, Alexander in 1492 granted a privilege whereby the prelates, princes, barons, and the nobility and cities of Lithuania were to have all the same rights and privileges as the Polish nobility possessed. As regards Poland herself, those who wished that the union should be preserved, desired to elect Alexander ; moreover he was a young man of by no means energetic character. Others were for John Albert the eldest son, and some even supported the candidature of Sigismund, the youngest.
Duke Janusz, of Masovia, took advantage of all this difference of opinion to put forward his own claims. He appeared at Piotrkow with a thousand armed men, an anticipation of the warlike retinues with which so many of the subsequent diets were to
yOHN ALBERT ELECTED.
59
be visited. He based his claim upon the fact that he was a direct descendant of Casimir the Great and Boleslas the First, and was therefore a regular Piast ; and not one of those Lithuanians whose blood was only Polish by feminine descent. The archbishop of Gnesen vigorously supported his candidature, and he
SEAL OF JANUSZ AND STANISLAUS OF MASOVIA, 152O.
might have been elected had not the old queen Elizabeth sent, to support her favourite son John Albert, i,6oo well-armed horsemen. On the 27th of August he was accordingly elected king, and crowned the 23rd of September following.
6o THE EARLY JAGIELLOS.
Both brothers, however, in their respective do- minions showed themselves weak sovereigns. At the diet at Piotrkow in 1496, John Albert made some surprising concessions to the nobility who were now becoming masters of the kingdom. Not only were their former privileges renewed, but the king's judicial rights and those connected with taxation were limited and the peasants were completely bound to the soil. The laws already existing about the sur- render of fugitive serfs were extended and made to apply to the children of plebeians {plebejoriim): not more than one must be allowed to go to the towns to study or practise a trade, and where only one son was born to his parents, he must stay to perform his work on the land. There were special clauses enacted against the Kmetons wearing better clothes, &c., than befitted their class. In illustration of these enactments Dr. Schiemann cites the articles " De kmethomim missione, de fugitivis kmethonibiis^ de filiis kmetJioimm^ de kmethomnn debitis apiid cives contractis^ We have such expressions as the following: — ^^ Itein propter deoi'dinationem kmetJionum^ videlicet mdla lege adstricti qiiidam eonim in sjiperbias efferuntiir, pretiosis vesti- itiitur, expensasqiie sumptuosas et alia faciunt, qitce illoruin conditioni miniine co7tvenitint, sicque debita inter cives contralmnt excedentes kmeiJionaliar We see, all things considered, that the Polish peasant was up to this time in a fair way to prosperity. We may date his real bondage from this hateful statute. No burgher or peasant was eligible to any of the higher offices of the Church; the peasantry were obliged to bring all legal matters in which they were
BUONACORSL
6l
concerned before tribunals presided over by their own masters ; they were also forbidden to possess any landed property. The following are the exact words of this famous enactment : — " Statuinms quod civibus et plebeis nndeainqiie existentibus oppida, villas, prcedia et bona alia jiiri terreste supposita enure, tenere possidereque perpetiw vel obligatorio inodo liceat mininie , . . et quod illi qui jam in ejfectu bona terrestria oceuparunt, ilia Jiinc ad deciirsuni temporis quod com- mode isiud facere possent vendere teneantur sub pcenis quas ex illis sccus facientibus juxta arbitriuifi nostrum et Palatinuin Terrce, in quo ilia consistunt, exacturi sumus irremissibiliterr The king was neither to enact any laws nor to declare war without the consent of the diet. We see the pacta conventa in a gradual state of formation.
John Albert was defeated in 1497 in an expedition against Stephen the Hospodar of Moldavia. Upon this disaster a song was composed, which has been preserved by the chronicler, Bielski. Two of the lines were —
' ' Za krola Olbrachta Wyginela szlachta." (" The nobility perished for King Albert ").^
Besides this catastrophe his kingdom was constantly invaded by Turks and Tatars. The king was some- what assisted against the encroachments of the nobles by an Italian named Buonacorsi, who had been his tutor, and continued to act as his adviser. This astute man counselled the king to labour to make himself absolute ruler. It was to Buonacorsi and his advice
^ See Nehring, AUpolnischer Sprachdenkmdlcr, 217.
ALEXANDER.
63
that the disaffected portion of his subjects were will- ing to attribute the disaster in the Bukovina in 1497. In 1 501 the king died of an apoplectic stroke at Thorn ; he was on the point of undertaking an expe- dition against the Teutonic knights.
He was succeeded by his brother, Alexander, who had married Helen, a daughter of Ivan III., of Russia. Her mother was the celebrated Sophia Paleologa, whose marriage with Ivan seemed to make him the heir of the Byzantine Empire. This astute sovereign, who reigned forty-three years, was the real founder of the greatness of Russia. By more than two centuries he anticipated the bold plans of Peter the Great. He was fonder of diplomacy and valuable alliances than of war. We have already seen how weak was the union between Poland and Lithuania. Ivan did not lose sight of the grand duchy, which contained so many subjects of the same blood and language as his own. Circumstances favoured him. The Grand Duke Alexander was a timid man, and thought that an alliance with his powerful neighbour might protect him from the incursions of the Hos- podar of Moldavia and the Khan of the Crimea, from which he was continually suffering. He therefore entered into negotiations with a view to marrying the eldest daughter of Ivan. It need hardly be said that the latter was ready to accept his overtures. The only difficulty that presented itself was the religious one. Alexander was a Roman Catholic, and Helen belonged to the Orthodox Church. Ivan succeeded, however, in securing for his daughter the free exercise of her religion, to which Alexander
64 THE EARLY yAGIELLOS.
agreed by a clause in the treaty, signed Oct. 26, 1494. At Wilno, a Russian church was to be erected by the side of the ducal palace ; and in that city the marriage was celebrated with great pomp on Jan. 18, 1495. Matters were not so easily settled with the Pope, to whom an ambassador was despatched. The Poles were always great in embassies, and we read of the universal curiosity which this one aroused. The Pope, Alexander VI., a noted person in ecclesiastical annals, put a disagreeable alternative before the Grand Duke. Helen was either to be repudiated or converted. On the other hand, the unfortunate wife was continually having lectures from Ivan, to which Sophia added her maternal exhortations. Helen in her letters would not allow that she was undergoing any persecution from her husband. Finally, Ivan quarrelled with his son-in- law, and war broke out between them. It was not, however, productive of any great results, with the exception of the battle of Wedrosza, on the 14th of July, 1500, where the Russians obtained an im- portant victory, killing a great number of their adversaries. Soon after Alexander was elected to the Polish throne Helen used her influence to effect a reconciliation between her father and husband, and a truce for six years was signed from March 25, 1503, to March 25, 1509. In this truce Ivan de- manded fresh guarantees that the faith of his daughter should not be disturbed. Julius II., who succeeded Borgia, began anew to direct the papal thunders against the perplexed Alexander, but he would not quarrel with his wife, and he did not
THE DIET OF RADOM.
65
succeed in converting her. Helen seems to have been sincerely attached to her husband. She died at Wilno in 15 13. A great deal of fresh light has been thrown upon the reign of Ivan and his relations to Roman Catholicism by the researches of Father Pierling (see especially La Russie et V Orient. Paris, 1891).
The nobility in this reign endeavoured to force such concessions from the king that he would have become merely the president of the senate, and the entire government would have been in their hands. Alex- ander appeared to consent, but retired to Lithuania, and on his return was able to annul his concessions. In his reign, however, we trace the germ of \\\.q. libertiin veto. In a diet held at Radom, in 1505, it was settled that the decision of the deputies was not to depend upon the majority, but must imply unanimity. This seems to have been a great element in the old Slavonic assemblies, and has been shown to have prevailed in the Russian sobori. At this diet it was enacted in the name of the king : " Nihil novi constitui debet per nos et siicces sores nostros sine communi consiliorum et nuntiorum terrestiiun consensu^ The diet of Radom, which lasted from March 23rd to May 29th, is justly considered one of the most im- portant in the history of the country. The whole legislative power of the country seemed to pass into the hands of the Polish nobility, whom the fiction of the time considered to be the Polish people.
At the conclusion of this memorable diet the king had some disagreeable discussions with the Lithuanian magnates. Alexander was in such anger at the Ian-
6
66 THE EARLY yAGIELLOS.
guage which they used that he had an apoplectic stroke. To increase his trouble, news was brought that the Tatars had made an incursion into Lithu- ania, and carried off 100,600 prisoners. They were however, overtaken by the Lithuanian commander, Michael Glinski, and defeated at Kleck. News of this victory was brought to the king, already on his death-bed. He died at Thorn on August 19, 1506. Alexander is described by his contemporaries as a dull-witted man ; he was lavish in his gifts, and many of them were revoked after his death by the diet by means of the so-called Statntum Alexan- drimiin.
We now pass from the reigns of the early Jagiellos ; the period of the Middle Ages has ceased in Euro- pean history. Modern history, with other influences, has begun. We shall soon see how Poland stood towards these new influences ; the Reformation, the growth of the burgher class, and others. At the be- ginning of the sixteenth century we find her governed by an oligarchy of nobles, who are continually en- croaching upon the power of the Crown. There is no national middle class ; the burghers are Germans or Jews ; the peasantry have lost all their privileges, and are bound to the soil, with no rights against the tyranny or caprice of their masters. Nothing of what may be called a national literature has been deve- loped ; the authors, who have appeared, are eccle- siastics, and w'rite in Latin, just as our own early historians did. Mention will be made of Gallus, Kadlubek, Dlugosz, Kromcr, and others in their proper place. The ballads and popular songs are
CLEMENT THE SMITH. 67
lost ; we know that they must have existed at one time by the titles of some which have been preserved. One poem, if it is worthy of the name, has come down in a manuscript of the Zamojski Library at Warsaw, and has been printed by Professor Nehring in his AltpolniscJier Sprachdenkmdlcj^ (Berlin, 1887). It describes an event of the year 146 1, which shall be briefly narrated here, as it belongs to the period which we are discussing, and is valuable as helping us to understand the manners of the time.
In that year, the Castellan of Cracow, Jan T^czynski, the member of a family well known in Poland, had refused to accompany the king on one of his military expeditions against the Teutonic knights. His brother Andrew, however, was willing to do so. As his armour was not in proper condition, he committed it to the care of the armourer, Clement, in Cracow, to be repaired. The work was finished, and Andrew went himself to the smith's shop to fetch it. Master Clement asked two gulden for the repairs. Andrew offered a fourth part of the sum, eighteen groschen. The smith stood firm to his price, and the angry nobleman thereupon boxed the armourer's ears in his own house. Nay, more, Andrew T^czynski betook himself at once to the Rathhaus, and brought a charge against the smith on account of the armour, admitting at the same time that he had assaulted him. The Council bade Andrew wait, and sent a beadle for the smith, but the nobleman grew impatient, left the Town-hall, and stood with his friends opposite the house of one of the councillors when Master Clement was going to the Town-hall
68 THE EARLY JAGIELLOS.
with the beadle. " Sir," called out the smith to the nobleman, "you have beaten me shamefully in my own house, and boxed my ears ; now you will get the worst of it ! " Thereupon Andrew T^czynski, his son, and retainers fell upon the smith, and severely chastised him in the public street. A loud cry was now raised, the bell of the city was rung, and the mob rushed in pursuit of T^czynski, who at first took refuge in the house of a tax-collector, and after- wards in a church, where he was murdered. This event occurred on July i6, 14.61. To this, Dlugosz adds, that the body of T^czynski was dragged through the streets, and left lying there for three days. But his narrative is suspected of exaggera- tion, as he was on intimate terms with members of the T^czynski family. The king (Casimir), in his camp at Inowroclaw, was only able to appease the nobility for the insult offered to their order by promising a speedy punishment of the guilty parties on his return to the city. Meanwhile Clement, the smith, .had prudently escaped from Cracow. John, the brother of Andrew, pointed out nine citizens as guilty — the burgomaster, three councillors, and five members of the corporation. All the evidence showed these men to be innocent. Three were at last released, but the remaining six were con- demned to death, and, after haying been kept some days in one of the towers of the castle, were executed privately in that which overlooks the Vistula, which has since been called the T<^czynski tower. The aristocratic party appear to have been afraid to have them put to death in the market-
A CRUEL ARISTOCRACY.
69
place. Even contemporary writers style it judiciiun crudelissimuni et iiiiqimm.
The whole proceeding reminds us of a sanguinary episode which we shall be compelled to mention further on — the tragedy of Thorn in 1724. Here, again, we have an aristocracy with unreasonable privileges in collision with peaceful citizens, and using its power in a cruel way. There was nothing in the book of fate for such privileged tyrants but ruin, and, however much we may lament the fate of Poland as a nation, it is impossible to feel great regret for the calamities which overcame her nobility.
VII.
THE JAGIELLOS. SIGISMUND I. (1507-I548), SIGIS- MUND II., AUGUSTUS (1548-1572). THE
ELECTED SOVEREIGNS, HENRY OF VALOIS (1 574-1 575), AND STEPHEN BATORY (1576-1586).
SiGISMUND, who succeeded in 1507, was youngest son of Casimir IV., and was born in 1467 ; he was therefore forty years of age at the time of his acces- sion. His reign coincides, to a great extent, with that of our Henry VIII. He appears to have been a man of feeble character, who contrived to steer tolerably clear of the difficulties surrounding him, but had no bold or original ideas. During his reign there were troubles with Tatar and Turk, and espe- cially with Russia. The old domestic feud of the two Slavonic nations, as Pushkin called it, was begin- ning to develop itself ; henceforth we shall find them engaged in constant struggles. The contrast between them was, in many respects, a sharp one. Poland was governed by an oligarchy of nobles ; Russia obeyed the uncontrolled authority of an autocrat. In Russia the condition of the peasantry, bad as it was, possessed some redeeming features ; she had the
SIGISMUND I.
72 THE yAGlELLOS.
mir and the possession of land guaranteed to the village community, whereas whatever traces Poland once possessed of this old Aryan tenure had long disappeared. Moreover, even though the burghers in Russia were not summoned to the duina^ they made their appearance in the sobor ; but we never hear in Poland of any of the burghers being summoned to the diets.
Sigismund was twice married. His first wife, of whom we hear but little, was Barbara Zapolya, sister of the celebrated John Zapolya, who attempted to get the crown of Hungary; she died in 15 15. His second wife was Bona Sforza, a daughter of one of the dukes of Milan, who made herself thoroughly hated in her adopted country on account of her intrigues and avarice. Upon her was composed the epigram : —
*' vSi parcunt Parcae, si luci lumine lucent, Si belliim bellum, turn bona Bona fuit."
When she left the country after her husband's death, she carried away large sums of money to Italy, where she died in 1558. The Only beneficial effect she can be said to have had upon the country was the intro- duction of painters and artists of various kinds, who made the somewhat barbarous Court of Poland more elegant. It is in this way that we must explain the existence of some beautiful missals, once illuminated for the use of Sigismund and emblazoned with the Polish arms — such as that preserved in the Bodleian Library.
In 1524 Albert, the Grand Master of the Teutonic
ALHERT OF BRANDENBURG.
74 THE yAGIELLOS.
knights and ruler of Eastern Prussia, who was the nephew of Sigismund, accepted the Lutheran reli- gion and his dominions were secularised ; he still, however, acknowledged the suzerainty of Poland. On the 25th of April he appeared in Cracow, still decorated with the black cross of his order, and made liis peace with Poland as Duke of Prussia. The terms of the concession were agreed upon and in the market-place of the city the new duke tendered the oath of fidelity to the king. We shall find this supremacy resigned by Poland, by the treaty of Wehlau in 1666 (a small town not far from Konigs- berg) ; in 1701 Prussia, under the Great Elector, became a kingdom
The reformed doctrines soon made their appear- ance in the country, and Sigismund adopted a timid policy with regard to them. At Danzig they became very prominent. The king made his entry into the city, and attempted to put the movement down. At first he temporised with the powerful faction which had adopted Lutheranism ; but as the Roman Catholic nobles poured in greater numbers with their forces into the city he became bolder, and ordered Salicetus, a prominent citizen, and twenty of the principal leaders to be arrested. Of these, fifteen, including Salicetus — in spite of an eloquent speech which he made in his defence — were put to death and the rest exiled. The king left Danzig in 1526, but he had not succeeded in stamping out the new doctrines there and they rapidly spread to Thorn, Elbing (Elbl^g), and other places. The anachronistic government of Poland was unable to deal with the
>^.
^^^■/:^^
ti-^'-
^
EiC"^-^^^.,-^
:-^^r
CHRIST Disi'L'iiNw wrni the doctors— with figures of
SIGISMUND AND HUSSITES INTRODUCED.
76 THE JAGIELLOS,
civil life in these important towns, and we shall, therefore, not be surprised at seeing them gradually estranged from her, and ready, when the occasion came, to transfer themselves to another master. To political difficulties religious were to be added.
In 1537 occurred the first rokosz as it is called, or rebellion of the nobility against the king. The affairs of Wallachia caused Sigismund to undertake an expedition against that country. One hundred and fifty nobles, assembled at Lemberg, refused to go on the expedition, and laid their complaints before the king. This rokosz has been sarcastically called Woyna kokosza, or the war against the fowls, because the only slaughter which took place was that of the poultry at Lemberg. Perhaps the similarity of the words rokosz and kokosz may have helped the phrase.
The Lithuanians had not become fully reconciled to their union with Poland, and Gliriski, one of their leading men, attempted to make it again independent, and on failing in his object fled to Russia, where he was warmly received, and persuaded the Grand Duke to invade Lithuania. The Russians got possession of Smolensk in 15 14, but suffered a defeat at Orsha the same year, at the hands of the Polish commander Ostrozski. Smolensk is one of the border cities which we shall find continually changing hands. The Poles regained it by the treaty of Deiilino, in 1618, but the Russians acquired it for good in 1667. In 1526, by the death of the last of the dukes of Masovia (Masowsze), this duchy was reunited to the crown of Poland, In 1533 Sigismund concluded a treaty with the Turks, which was important as
COPERNICUS.
11
securing his southern provinces from invasion. Po- land was now in a very prosperous condition, and a lustre was cast upon her by the genius of the great Copernicus, a native of Thorn (1473-1543). In 1529 Sigismund published his code of laws for Lithuania, which was issued in the White Russian language. The king died at Cracow in the year 1548, and lies buried in the cathedral of that city, so rich in historical monuments. His reign was an important one for the country, in spite of his own weakness of character. We have seen the great spread of the doctrines of the Reformation, at first in those parts of the country which bordered upon Germany ; later in Little Po- land and Lithuania. According to Professor Kallen- bach {Les Huinanistes Polonais, Fribourg, 1891), its growth was much assisted by what might almost be called the social reorganisation of the State. The Polish nobility, encouraged by the great privileges which had been granted to them had now for their chief objects the subjugation of the towns and peasants. We have seen how the Polish burgher and peasant had, till the earlier part of the fifteenth century, been free, comparatively speaking. Since that time they had been gradually sinking. By the peace of Thorn in 1466, Poland regained the mouth of the Vistula. This outlet to the Baltic developed greatly the trade in wheat and timber — the two natural sources of wealth in the country. The cultivation of the land, which up to that time had been of moderate importance and proportioned to the wants of the inhabitants, now rapidly increased, so that grain might be furnished for exportation. The Polish noble became transformed
LUXURY OF THE NOBLES.
79
into an agriculturist, whose only care was to get as great a harvest as possible from his fields. He wanted plenty of hands to work, and thus, from economic causes, the peasants were more and more employed upon his lands. Soon the corvee of the serfs, sanc- tioned by various diets, became one. of the chief sources of the wealth of the nobles. In this way great changes were brought about in the country, and the Polish nobility, who up to the fifteenth century had lived frugally, became rich and luxu- rious. At that period only the sons of the wealthier magnates had been able to pursue their studies in foreign countries ; but in the sixteenth, the children of the smaller gentry began to visit the universities of other lands. This change in Polish habits of life is amply borne testimony to by the historian Kromer, who writes as follows in his funeral oration on King Sigismund I., pronounced in 1548: — ^^ Testantur id tantce opes et facilitates homimim nostrorum, tain opu- lenta cum externis commercia, tantiis splendor ne dicam luxus, tanta elegantia turn in cedificiis et victu ctdtuque corporis^ turn in sermojte et moribus^ quajtta nunqtiam ante hiinc regent in Polonia fuity
In 1534 Sigismund I. attempted to hinder the Polish youth from studying at foreign universities. This order, however, he was obliged to cancel in 1543, on account of the decay of the University of Cracow, which was obstinately attached to the ancient system of educa- tion. The professors were mostly men of humble origin, who received miserable stipends. To this must be added the indifference with which the nobility regarded the university, which appeared to
SIGISMUNU AUGUSTUS.
THE UNIVERSITY OE CRACOW. 8l
them a mere middle-class institution and nothing more. To prove his good-will to it, and yielding
SEAL OF SIGISiMUND I. AS DUKE OF GLOGAU.
somewhat to the prejudices of the time, Sigismund in 1535 ennobled all the doctors, masters, and professors
GOLD PIECE OF TEN DUCATS OF SIGISMUND AUGUSTUS.
of the university, uttering the following grand words, as Professor Kallenbach rightly styles them, " Satius
7
82 THE yAGIELLOS.
eniin est gestis propriis florere quam Diajonim opinione uti nee minor nobilitas est ea qticE propriis virtiitibus cornparatur!' In judging of Sigismund we ought always to remember to his credit that he was capable of such language.
He was succeeded by his son of the same name, generally called Sigismund Augustus. The first wife of the new king had been Elizabeth, daughter of the German Emperor, Ferdinand I. On fier death he had privately married Barbara Radziwill, a member of one of the most illustrious families of Lithuania, who had been left a widow. On his accession Sigis- mund avowed his marriage, and his wife accompanied him to Cracow, to his father's funeral. The nobles, however, who already treated their sovereign as a chief magistrate and nothing more, required at the Diet of Piotrkow that the marriage should be annulled, probably thinking that the country would gain more by an alliance with an imperial or regal house. But Sigismund, by sowing discord in the ranks of his opponents, proposing, among other things, to put an end to pluralities in Church and State, contrived to carry his point. His wife was crowned in 1550, but died within six months afterwards, not without suspicion of having been poisoned by her mother-in- law, the hated Bpna, who, perhaps, introduced among the more simple northern people, not only some- thing of the taste and refinement of her Italian countrymen, but also their terrible arts of secret poisoning. She is even suspected of having got rid of her son's first wife by these means. Barbara, to judge by her portrait, was a handsome, sympathetic
PORTRAIT OF ELIZA15KTH, FIRST WIFE OF SIGISMUND II.
84 THE yAGIELLOS.
woman, worthy of a better fate. But the Roman poet has told us : —
" Non bene conveniunt nee in una sede morantur Majestas et amor."
The Poles are said to have loved her during her short reign, and she has been made the subject of many a graceful lay by the poets of her country. In three years Sigismund married again, a sister of his first wife, Catherine, widow of Francis Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. The marriage, however, was an unhappy one, and Catherine lived apart from her husband. He was anxious to procure a divorce from the Pope, but did not succeed in obtaining one. Again the quarrel between the Protestants, or Dissidents, as they were called, raged fiercely in Poland. The brother of Barbara, Sigismund's second wife, was an enthusiastic Protestant, and had done much for the spread of the reformed doctrine in Lithuania, where he had great influ- ence on account of his wealth and position as Palatine of Wilno. At his expense the first Protes- tant Bible was printed in Polish in 1563. This book has now become exceedingly scarce, because his son was converted to Romanism, and destroyed every copy of his father's Bible upon which he could lay his hands.
The Court of Nicholas Radziwill at Wilno is described very graphically by the English ambas- sador to Russia, Jerome Horsey. The account which he gives will enable the reader to form an idea of the pomp of a Polish nobleman in the sixteenth century.
NICHOLAS RADZIWILL. 85
It will be observed that the orthography of Horsey is very capricious :
" When I came to Villna the chief citie in Littuania, I presented myself and letters pattents from the Quen, that declared my titells and what I was, unto the great duke viovode Ragaville [Radziwill], a prince of great excelencie, prowes and power, and religious protes- tant, gave me great respect and good enterteynment ; told me, though I had nothinge to say to him from the Quen of England, yet, he did so much honnor and admire her excelent vertus and graces, he would also hold me in the reputacion of her majesties ambassador ; which was som pollacie that his subjects [sic\ should thincke I was to negociate with him. Toke me with him to his church ; heard devine service, sphalms, songs, a sermon and the sacrsements ministered according to the reformed churches ; whereat his brother cardinal, Ragavill, did murmur. His hightness did invite me to diner, honnored with 50 halberdeers thorow the cittie ; placed gonners and his guard of 500 gentilmen to bring me to his pallace ; himself accompanied with many yonge noblemen, rcceavcd me upon the tarras ; brought me into a very larg room where organes and singing was, a long tabcU set with pallcntins, lordes and ladies, himself under a cloth of estate. I was placed before him in tthe middcst of the table ; trompetts sound and kettell droms roared. The first service brought in, ghesters .and poets discourse merily, lowed instruments and jafft plaied very musically ; a set of dwarffes men Jand weomcn finely atired came in with sweet [harmcny still and mournfull picps and songs of art ;
86 THE JAGIELLOS.
Davids tymbrils and Arons swett soundinge bells, as the termed them. The varietie made the tyme pleasinge and short. His hightnes drancke for the Majesty the angelicall Quen of England her health ; illustrated her greatnes and graces. The great princes and ladyes every one their glass of sweet wines plaeged and I did the like for his health. Strainge portraturs, lyons, unicorns, spread-eagels, swans and other made of suger past, som wines and spicats in their bellies to draw at, and succets of all sorts cutt owt of their bellies to tast of; every one with his sylver forcke. To tell of all the order and particuler services, and rarieties wear tedious ; well-feasted, honnored, and much made of, I was conducted to my lodginge in manner as I was brought. Had my letters pattents, and a gentilman to conduct me thorow his countrye ; with which I toke my leave. Some pastymes with lyons, bulls, and bares, straing to behold, I omytt to recite."
To return, however, to the position of the Dissi- dents, a name which we must remember was at first applied to all other sects in Poland besides the Roman Catholics, including even the Orthodox Greek. It was afterwards, however, limited to the Protestant and other kindred sects. In consequence of a riot at the University, in which some of the students were killed, many left Cracow and went to the newly-founded university of Konigsberg, in the dominions of Albert, the Duke of Prussia. Konigsberg, although now a city as completely German as can be found, was in reality of Slavonic origin, having been founded by Otakar Premysl, the Bohemian king, in
DUKE ALBERT.
87
1255 : its Slavonic name was Krolevvicz. Duke Albert established the university in 1554, and at Konigsberg the first edition of the Gospels in Polish and many anti-Romanist tracts appeared. Here also was printed that valuable translation of Luther's Cate- chism into .Old Prussian, a language now extinct. Duke Albert entertained the project of mounting the throne of Poland after the death of King Sigismund, and tried by every means to make himself popular in that country. He accepted the dignity of a Polish
Sn.VKR-GILT MEDAL OF ALliERT OF BRANDENBURG.
senator, and would probably have succeeded in his object had he not predeceased Sigismund, dying in 1568. His only son was a man of feeble character, quite incapable of developing his father's plans.
Meanwhile in Poland the struggle between the Papists and Reformers assumed very serious dimen- sions. A priest was burnt to death for administering the sacrament in both kinds, and a lady suffered the same fate for denying the real presence. A large number of the nobles were infected with the new teaching, and some of the clergy took wives, Sigis-
88 THE yAGIELLOS.
miind was disingenuous and inconsistent throughout. He is supposed to have been inclined to the doctrines of the Reformation, and even allowed Calvin to dedicate one of his works to him, and Luther an edition of his German Bible. But we find him giving the Bishops power to suppress all heresy with vigour. The religious question was debated at a diet held at Wola, near Warsaw, the year after Sigismund's death. No religious differences were to be settled by the sword — there was to be universal toleration ; but we shall see that these principles were not carried out. From this statute we learn that the Polish nobles were supposed to be masters of the spiritual, as well as the material condition of their serfs, for it was expressly stated that their power over them was to be unlimited " tarn in scemlaribiis qiiani in spiriUialibusr In his wars with Ivan the Terrible, Sigismund was unfortunate. The Russians got possession of Polotsk ; on the other hand, the Poles conquered Livonia from the sword-bearing knights. Livonia thus became divided between two powerful neighbours ; for Revel and a part of Esthonia were annexed to Sweden, while the remainder now came into the possession of Poland. The Pacta Subjectionis^ as they were called, ^\'cre con- cluded on the 28th of November, 1561. All their poli- tical privileges were guaranteed to the Livonians, and they were to be allowed to profess the Protestant religion. The Grand Master of the Knights was henceforth to be invested with the ducal title, and the hereditary succession to the duchies of Courland and Semigallia was settled upon his heirs male, but it was to be a fief of the crown of l^oland. He was also
r
SIGISMUNP AUGUSTUS.
go THE JAGIELLOS.
declared perpetual Governor of all the rest of Livonia. Thus the order of the sword-bearing knights, which had existed for more than three hundred years, came to an end. Among the Grand Masters, Walter Plettenberg is especially to be remembered, having been one of the most considerable captains of his age. In 1500 he won a great victory over Ivan III. of Russia ; almost incredible accounts are given of the number of the slain.
Sigismund died in 1572, leaving no issue; the direct rule of the Jagiellos was now to cease in Poland, but we shall find it afterwards continued in a female branch. We have now the rise of a Polish literature ; the laws were promulgated in Polish, which was the Court language, although Latin was occasionally heard. In 1569 took place the diet of Lublin (in Little Poland), the object of the statute there enacted was the closer union of Lithuania with Poland, and the abolition of " home rule " in the former. The connexion of the two countries up to the present time had not been close ; there were differences of language and religion — especially the latter. Many prominent Lithuanians had embraced the reformed doctrines, and many had remained adherents of the Orthodox Church. War- saw was fixed upon as the seat of the diet, on account of its convenient situation. It afterwards became the capital of the country under Sigismund III. The city is said to have been founded by Konrad, the Duke of Masovia, in 1269; the old Dukes of Masovia resided at Czersk, near Warsaw.
On the failure of the direct line of the Jagiellos an interregnum took place. Four candidates appeared
92 THE yAGIELLOS.
for the vacant throne, firstly, Ernest, Archduke of Austria. The Habsburgs, it will be observed, were always attempting to secure the crown, and although they were unable to do so, they contrived as often as they could, to marry one of their archduchesses to the Polish king. The remaining candidates were Henry of Valois, Duke of Anjou, brother of the French king, John, King of Sweden, who had married the late king's sister Catherine, and Ivan IV. of Russia. The contest lay between the two first, the Swedish alli- ance was not considered to be of any value and the Tsar Ivan was too much disliked. Montluc, the French ambassador at the Polish Court, secured the throne for his master's brother. The new king was the son of Henry II. of the house of Valois and Catherine de Medici, and was next in succession to his brother Charles IX., then reigning. He was twenty- three years of age.
The news of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 1572, caused some of his future subjects, many of whom we must remember were Protestants, to feel a little uneasy, but their suspicions were lulled, and the Polish ambassadors made their appearance in Paris to offer him the crown. We have full narra- tives of this event from De Thou and other writers, and the accounts given contain so many interesting details, that we believe our readers will be glad to have some of them. It was on the 19th of August, 1573, that the Polish ambassadors charged to offer the crown to the brother of Charles IX., reached Paris. They were twelve in number, and in their suite might be reckoned more than 150 young noble-
THE POLISH EMBASSY. 93
men of the greatest families of the country. The king sent to meet them Francois de Bourbon, the eldest son of the Due de Montpensier, the Dues de Guise, de Mayenne, andd'Aumale, and the Marquises du Maine and d'Elboeuf. Paul de Foix, member of the Privy Council, was the speaker, and complimented the ambassadors. They entered by the Porte St. Martin and filled with their suite fifty carriages, some drawn by four horses, others by six. The crowds on the way were very great ; the pavement, the windows, even the roofs, were filled with spectators who saw with admiration these men of fine stature and with a haughty expression on their faces. Their caps were trimmed with valuable furs, and their scimitars were studded with precious stones. To the astonishment of the Parisians they carried bows and arrows, and when their heads were bared, it was seen that, more Polonico, they were closely shaven with the exception of a tuft. There was something very Oriental in their loose flowing robes. Such was the garb in which the Polish sovereigns were in the habit of appearing before their subjects ; and they are said to have been indignant with Stanislaus Poniatowski, their last sovereign, for appearing in French costume. In addition to the robes of the ambassadors, the splen- dour of their equipages, and the rich harness of their horses, combined to form a strange and dazzling sight.
On conversing with the Poles, the French w^ere struck with their facility in speaking Latin, French, German, and Italian. Some of them even spoke the French language with such facility that, according to
94 ^^^ yAGlELLOS.
a contemporary writer, they might have been taken for inhabitants of the banks of the Seine or the Loire, rather than men born in countries watered by the Vistula and Dnieper. The nobility of the Court of Charles IX. were obliged to blush at their own ignorance, for there were only two, the Baron de Millan and the Marquis de Castellanau Mauvissiere, who could answer them in Latin, and they had been expressly sent to maintain the honour of their order. The other nobles, when the new-comers spoke to them in that language, could only reply by signs or by stammering.
Two days after their arrival the ambassadors had an audience of Charles IX. After kissing hands, the Bishop of Posen pronounced a discourse in the name of all of them, to which the king replied that he should remember all his life the magnificent offer which the Poles had come to make, at his recommend- ation, to a brother whom he tenderly loved ; and added that he would never lose any occasion of tes- tifying his gratitude to them, so that not only Poland, but that all the universe and all ages should know that never prince had more friendship for any nation than he would always feel for the Poles.
On quitting the king, the ambassadors went to the queen-mother, Catherine de Medici, and other royal ladies. They deferred till the morrow seeing their new sovereign, wishing to set a day apart to do him more complete honour. On Saturday the 22nd, in the afternoon, they mounted their horses, clad in long robes of cloth of gold. The cortege of each envoy went before him, composed of young gentlemen all
HENRY AND ZBOROWSKl.
95
dressed in silk, and preceded by bearers of huge iron maces. The lords of the French Court conducted them in this style to Henri de Valois, who received them in the great hall of the Louvre.
After the letters of credit had been read, Konarski, the Bishop of Posen, made an address to Henry, and finished to the following effect — that the king owed the crown, which they had come to offer him, to his merit alone, and they did not doubt that he would add to his original virtues all those which honour and duty would soon render necessary to him. As to the diploma of his election, they could not part with it till the king his brother and he had confirmed by their oaths all the articles which had been agreed upon between the French ambassadors and the Senate and Republic. Henry replied in Latin, thanking them heartily for the choice they had made, and then gave the ambassadors his hand to kiss, whereupon they departed. Long debates then took place about the promises made and signed before the election by the French diplomatists. Henry began to be somewhat disgusted with his foreign crown, when he saw with what energy the ambassadors supported the conven- tion. This was carried to such a pitch that when one of them, Zborowski, was interpellated by Henry with reference to the article which assured liberty of con- science, he cried out : " I affirm, sire, that if your ambassador had not stipulated that you would consent to this article you would never have been elected king of Poland. I even say more ; if you do not accept this clause as you do all the others, you shall never be king." Murmurs were already heard from the French
96 THE yAGIELLOS.
courtiers, but by a gesture Henry contrived to lull them, and was able to conceal his displeasure under a gracious smile.
After the main points had been settled, a grand banquet was given in his honour, and September nth was fixed for his taking the oath. The ceremony was carried out with great pomp in Notre Dame. When mass had been said, the two kings of France and Poland knelt down before the high altar and took an oath with their hands laid upon the Gospels, Henri de Valois as sovereign of Poland, and Charles IX. as guarantee of the promises made in his name by the envoys Montluc de Noailles and Saint-Gelais.
Three days afterwards took place in the great hall of the Palais de Justice the public reading of the decree of election. All the Court and the great func- tionaries of State were present, the number of spec- tators is computed to have been about ten thousand. The ambassadors arrived half an hour after Charles IX., for they lost no opportunity of showing their pride, and took in a solemn manner the decree of election from a silver-gilt box in which it was pre- sented. A wrapper of green velvet enclosed the box^ and the whole was contained in a covering of cloth of gold. The castellan slowly read the articles, while two others, Tomicki and Gorka, held the two ends of the document, which was sealed with twenty-six seals. Konarski and Radziwill then spoke, and when the chancellors had answered, the Te Deum was sung ; then the bells were rung and salvos of artillery resounded from all quarters. The following morn- ing, by order of Charles IX., the new sovereign.
I
THE BANQUET AT PARIS. 97
made a grand entry into Paris. In complete armour and preceded by the Due de Guise who carried the sceptre, Henri de Valois on horseback set out from the Porte St. Antoine, where the keys of the city were presented to him, to the palace. The King of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV., and the Due d'Alengon, Henry's brother, were at his side, and there were to be seen in the cortege the other princes of the blood, the ambassadors of the Republic with all their suite, the French parliament in red gowns, and the foreign ministers. Throughout the journey the brilliant procession was welcomed by an immense crowd with cries of " Vive le roi de Pologne ! " At certain intervals the magistrates had caused triumphal arches to be erected, ornamented with statues, pictures, and inscriptions, some in honour of Poland, others relating to the union of the two brothers and the love of their subjects.
The evening of this remarkable day a grand supper in honour of the event was given in the Tuileries, at which verses were recited by Ronsard, who had already been the friend of Kochanowski, the Polish poet, during his stay in Paris, and Dorat, in honour of France and the King of Poland. The following day, Jan Zborowski, one of the suite, departed to give an account to the Polish Senate of what had taken place, and to announce the speedy arrival of the new sovereign. In a discourse addressed to Zamojski, and afterwards published, the celebrated PVench lawyer, Baudoin, spoke of this embassy as the most splendid which had ever been sent by any nation. We shall soon see what a poor
8
98 THE JAGIELLOS.
result was to follow upon all these gorgeous pageants.
And here it may be as well to give the pacta con- venta, as they were called, which were signed by the new king. The chief were as follows : —
1. The king was to have no voice in the election of his successor.
2. He was to adhere to the terms granted to the Dissidents — under which we must remember that all non-Catholics were included. This clause had been particularly odious to Henri, and he expected to be able to evade it.
3. War was not to be declared, nor a military expedition undertaken, without the consent of the diet
4. No taxes were to be imposed without the consent of the diet.
5. The sovereign was to have a permanent council consisting of five bishops, four palatines, and eight castellans, who were to be changed every year and elected by the diet.
6. A general diet was to be convoked every two years, or oftener if it was necessary.
7. The duration of each diet was not to exceed six weeks. *
8. No foreigner could hold any public office,
9. The king must neither marry nor divorce a wife without the consent of the diet.
These conditions were in some respects galling, but the king had an ample revenue and considerable power when he commanded an army in the field.
Montluc, besides these stipulations, promised for
100 THE JAGIELLOS.
his sovereign that France should send a fleet into the Baltic to assist the Poles, and should furnish money and men for any wars which the Poles might wage against their neighbours. We have no space to describe the arrival of Henry at Cracow, where he was crowned on February 21, 1574; but his reign is calculated by the Polish historians as lasting five months only, and was marked by only one con- spicuous event — the murder of the Castellan Wa- powski by Samuel Zborowski, a rich and insolent young man, in the palace, and, as it were, under the very eyes of the king. Henry, however, only banished Zborowski, who had been one of those who favoured his election, and when soon afterwards the palatinate of Cracow became vacant it was conferred upon the assassin's brother. The nobility resented this murder of one of their own order, which of course they regarded as a very different matter from the death of a Cracow burgher.
The effeminate king soon grew weary of the tur- bulent people among whom he had cast his lot, so inferior in most respects to the agreeable Parisians whom he had left behind. He buried himself in his palace, and led a life of pleasure. His secretary, Desportes, who accompanied him to Poland, seems to have been of the same opinion as his master:
' Adieu, Poloigne, adieu plaines desertes, Tousiours de niege et de glace couvertes ; Adieu, pays d'un eternel adieu. Ton air, tes moeurs m'ont si fort S9eu desplaire, Qu'il faudra bien que tout me soit contraire, Si jamais plus je retourne en ce lieu."
FLIGHT OF HENRY. lOl
But a release was at hand : by the death of his brother, Charles IX., he inherited the French throne. He hoped to escape before the news had got noised abroad, especially as he had some fears of the ambitious designs of his brother, the Duke of Alengon. He refused to follow the advice of some of his friends that he should convoke a diet and solicit permission to go to France to arrange his affairs.
On the evening of the i8th of July he gave a banquet in honour of Anna Jagiellonka, as she was called, the sister of the late King Sigismund. He seemed full of gaiety, and when the festivities were over retired as usual to his apartments, but he was then led by an attendant to a place of meeting where horses had been secretly prepared, and with a few companions he rode hurriedly from his kingdom, hardly slackening rein till he reached Oswi^cim, on the borders of Silesia, on the following morning. As soon as it was known at Cracow that the king had fled, universal consternation prevailed. The Grand Chamberlain had rushed to the king's bedroom, found the candles burning as usual in the room, the curtains of the bed drawn, but Henry absent. He thereupon followed in pursuit, attended by five hundred horsemen. They .soon came up with the king's party, who had lost a good deal of time through their ignorance of the road, and T^czynski, the Grand Chamberlain, cried out to his retreating majesty : " Seretiissima Majestas, air fugis ? " When he felt himself .safe beyond the Polish frontier, Henry entered into a parley with Tgczynski, who rcmon-
102 THE yAGIELLOS.
strated with him about the manner in which he was leaving the kingdom, and recommended him to return and convoke a diet ; this Henry refused to do, and only promised in a vague way that he would come back as soon as he had arranged matters in France. The Poles, however, saw no more of him, and were well rid of such a worthless man, who would pro- bably have been a ready tool in the hands of the Jesuits. Henry was assassinated in 1589.
Jan Kochanowski, the poet, who besides winning such a reputation among his countrymen as a Polish poet also wrote in Latin, has left some amusing verses addressed to the fugitive king under the title Ga//o Crocitantiy from which we extract the following lines : —
" Et tamen banc poteras mecum requiescere noctem, Nee clubiis vitam committere, Galle, tenebris ; State viri, quae causa fugoe? Non Trinacris haec est Ora, nee infames funesto vespere terree ; Sannatia est, quam, Galle, fugis, fidissima terra Hospitibus."
The Poles were greatly piqued at being deserted in this fashion, and accordingly assembled at St^zyca, not far from Warsaw, and appointed the 7th of November as the day of the election of a new king. The country, however, suffered from the evils of an interregnum from the i8th of July, 1574, when Henry fled, till the appearance of another sovereign at Cracow on the 22nd of April, 1576. Before the appointment took place the Tatars made an irruption into the country and carried off 20,000 captives. The majority of votes were in favour of Stephen
BATORY ELECTED. IO3
Batory, Prince of Transylvania, a renowned soldier, who was to marry Anna, the sister of Sigismund. The szlachta,/^///^ nod/esse,\YSiS almost entirely on the side of Batory. The candidate in opposition to him was the German Emperor Maximilian II., whose election was advocated by some of the great families, although the House of Habsburg was never very popular in Poland. On the death of Sigismund Augustus, in 1572, Maximilian had offered his son Ernest as a candidate for the throne, and had endeavoured to gain the support of the Dissidents. Henry, how- ever, as w^e have seen, was elected. When, however, the German Emperor saw the throne abandoned by the French sovereign, he again put forward the claims of his son ; but to his surprise and vexation was himself elected by a certain number of the nobles, at the head of whom was the Primate. Moreover, the Papal legate, who was actively engaged in intrigues to thwart the Protestants, was anxious that he should receive it. He appears to have hesitated from a dislike to some of the terms of the pacta convenia. Meanwhile Batory hastened to Poland, and was crowned, and Maximilian, who had long been in failing health, expired in the same year, not having attained the age of fifty. Batory was now left with- out a rival ; was crowned at Cracow ; married the Princess Anna, and signed the pacta conventa. He was obliged, however, to consent to some further diminutions of the royal power, neither was he pleasing to all his subjects ; for wc find that Danzig and some other places for a time held out against him.
•St£PHANV5 (j BATHORIVS^
STErHEN BATORY.
batory's plans. 105
The new sovereign of Poland was a member of the ancient family of the Batorys of Somlyo, in Transylvania. He had been brought up at Gran at the court of the Archbishop, and had originally been in the Austrian service ; but when John Zapolya endeavoured to seize the crown of Hungary, Stephen joined his party. On the death of the last of the Zapolyas, in 1571, he was elected Prince of Tran- sylvania, and he occupied this position when called to the throne of Poland.
Stephen was a vigorous ruler, such as the country did not see again till the days of Sobieski. He reigned from 1576 to 1586, and was able to check effectually the encroachments of Ivan the Terrible. Pskov and other towns were taken, but surrendered at the peace of Yam Zapolski in return for Livonia, of which the Russians had got possession. The chief agent in bringing about this peace was the Jesuit Possevino, who was employed by the Pope in negotia- tions between Ivan and Stephen, and encouraged the latter in his favourite idea of driving the Turks out of Europe. Batory was willing to listen to the proposals of Possevino, but his main object was to dismember Russia, the growing power of which he viewed with suspicious, and, as it were, with pro- phetic eyes. This was his great programme, and he attempted to justify it by asserting that the Musco- vite State consisted mainly of portions of territory belonging to the principality of Lithuania, which had been united to Poland in the days of Jagiello. iM'om this fate Russia was only saved by the death of the Transylvanian prince, and she was destined to run
Io6 THE yAGIELLOS.
the same risk in the days of Sigismund III. and Ladislaus IV. We shall see that it was only the weakness of John Casimir and his successor which saved her. Stephen encouraged letters by the foun- dation of the University of Wilno, the care of which was committed to the Jesuits, now swarming into Poland in great numbers, and gradually getting the control of the education of the country. This university was suppressed after the Polish insurrection in 1830. Schafarik, however, accuses Batory of having been too fond of the Latin language, and by its encourage- ment doing harm to Polish. Sarnicki, the historian, says of him : " Ftii^ vir tain in pace qiiani iii bello exceho et forti animo^ judicii magni^ prcesertim ubi ab affect ibtis liber erat ; in victu et amictu parens, et ab onini jactantia et ostentatione alieniis ; erudi- tione insigniter tinctns ; sernionis Latine valde studiosus et prorsics Terentianiisr
It was Stephen Batory who first organised the Cossacks, of whom we hear so much in Russian and Polish history. The Cossacks of the Dnieper were formed into six regiments of one thousand men each. Further limitations of the royal power took place in this reign. In 1578 the right of final appeal to the king was taken away, or could only be exercised in a small district within a certain radius of his residence. Sixteen senators were also chosen to attend him and give their opinion on important matters. In the midst of all his plans, Batory was seized with an illness which proved fatal. It was just as his constitution began to break up that he was visited at his castle, Nicpolomice, near Cracow, by the English
DEATH OF BATORY,
107
wizards Dee and Kelly. Stephen had always shown great fondness for soothsayers. He had consulted them on his first coming to Poland. But he soon got tired of their impostures, and gradually grew weaker, till he died on the 12th of December, 1586, at Grodno.
He had ruled with a vigorous hand, and had done what he could to cope with the turbulent aristocracy: this was especially shown in his treatment of Samuel Zborowski, the assassin of Wapowski, who had ven- tured to return to Poland, from which he had been banished at the beginning of his reign, and had even
COIN OF STEPHEN BATORY.
commenced new intrigues, being engaged in a plot against Zamojski, the Starosta of Cracow. He and his brothers were even suspected of designs against the king himself Samuel was publicly executed at Cracow in 1584; of his two brothers one escaped into Germany, and the punishment of the other was prevented by the sudden death of Stephen at the comparatively early age of 54.
His wife, with whom he does not appear to have lived very happily, survived him ten years. We get a curious picture of her in the quaint diary of Horsey, already quoted. Jerome seems to have had
I08 THE yAGlELLOS.
an interview with her at Warsaw in 1589, on his last journey to Russia. His story shall be told in his own words : " I was willinge to see Quen Ann, King Sigimsmondus the Third [first ?], his daughter, Kinge Stephanus Batur, his late widow and wifif. I putt one one of my mens livories, passed to her pallace, before the windowes wherof wear placed potts and ranckes of great carnacions, gelly-flowers, province rosses, swett lillies, and other sweett herbs and strainge flowers, geavinge most fragrant swett smells. Came into the chamber she satt and supped in ; stood emonge the rest of many other gentlemen. Her Majesty sate under a white silke canapie, upon a great Turckye carpett, in a chaire of estate, a hard favored Ouen : her mayeds of honnor and ladies attendants at supper in the same room, a great travers [arras ?] drawen betwen ; saw her service and behaviour and atendance. At last one spied me that had taken noatice of me before : told the lord steward standinge by her chaire ; he castinge his eye upon me, made other to behold me. I shiffted backe ; he told the Quen. * Call him hether, though not in state.' Saieth the old lord, ' Will you any thinge with her Majesty?' ' Noe, sir, I came but to see her Majesty's princely state and presents [pre- sence], for which I crave pardon if it be offence.' ' Her Majesty will have speach with you.' I was discovered by my curious ruffes. The ladies hasted from their tabell; came about the Quen. The Quen, after I had done my obeisance, asked if I wear the gentilman of England that had lately negociated with the kinge; and by her interpreter would know
ANNA JAGIELLONKA.
log
the Ouen's name. ' Elizaveta is to blessed a name for such a scurge of the Catholicque Churche ; her sisters name was Maria, a blessed saint in heaven.' I desired to speake without her interpreter, who did not well. ' Praie doe.' Ouene Elizabeths name is most renouned and better accounted of by the best and most pouisent, greatest emperiall kings and princes of this world ; the defendirs of the true and aunctient Catholicke Church and faith, so reverenced and stilled [styled], as her due, both by foes and frendes.' ' Na, na, sir, if she be soe, whie doth she so cruelly putt to death so many holly catholikes, Storie, Campion, and other godly marters. They were traitors to God and her crown, precticed her subvercion and ruen of her kyngdom.' ' Yea ! but how could she spill the bloud of the Lordes anointed, a Quen more magnificent than herself, without the triall, jugement, and consent of her peers, the holly father the pope, and all the Chris- tian princes of Europia.' ' Her subjects and parlia- ment thought it so requiset, without her royall consent, for her more saffety and quiett of her realme daily endangered.' She shoke her head with dislike of my answer. Her Majestys gostly father, Possavine, the great Jesuite, came in ; toke displeasur at my presenc ; one whose skirts I had sate before in the cittie of the Musco, when he was nunciat ther and rejected. Her Majesty called for a glas of Hungers [Hungarian] wine, with two slices of chea' [cheat] bread upon it. Willed the lord steward to give it to me, which I refused till her highness had taken it into her own handes to give it me; and so dismist
no THE y AG IE LLCS.
I was glad when I came home to putt of my livorie ; but my hostis, a comly gentihveoman well knowen to the Quen, was presently sent for. Her Majesty was desirous to see the perrell chayn I wore a Sounday when I toke my leave of the kinge, the rather because a bold Jew, the kinges chieff cus- tomer, toke it in his hand, and told the kinge, as the Quen said, that they wear counterfeite perrell, fish eys dried ; and to know how my ruffes wear starched, handsomly made with silver wyer and starched in England. My chaine was returned, and no honnor lost by the Quens sight therof."
Anna Jagiellonka died in 1596, and is buried in the cathedral of Cracow, where there is a handsome monument to her memory. Her effigy represents a woman of masculine appearance. The celebrated Jesuit rhetorician, Peter Skarga, preached a sermon at her funeral. Many historians have considered that with the death of Batory the decadence of Poland really begins, and their opinion seems jus- tified. He had throughout shown himself a vigorous ruler, not merely in his foreign policy, which has already been explained, but by the firm hand with which he directed the internal affairs of the kingdom. He had restrained the nobility by limiting as much as he could their privileges, and he is said to have purposed making the throne hereditary. Such a measure as this was sure to meet with violent opposi- tion, and hence the report was spread that the great king was poisoned ; but it appears clear enough that some time before his death he had been in failing health, and his bodily condition was carefully watched
112 THE JAGIELLOS.
by the neighbouring powers, especially by the German Emperor, whose ambassadors are found frequently sending private despatches on the subject.
It was at this period that the anomalous govern- ment under which Poland suffered began to be more realised in the European system. The sixteenth century was the great period throughout Europe of the rise of the middle class, of the development of towns, of the emancipation of the peasants, and in consequence of these movements the limitation of the power of the aristocracy. It is the age of the influence of the Reformation and the press. The European states begin now more and more to constitute a vast system, and one reacts upon the other. But as yet Poland had stood aloof from the great European conflicts. She did not maintain ambassadors at foreign courts any more than the Russians did ; although we occasionally hear of embassies being sent for extraordinary purposes. The chief reason for this policy appears to have been that the nobles who now held the power almost entirely in their hands, would have mistrusted any permanent emis-, sary, who might have been in the interest of the king. They were jealous of him and of one another. Even so late as the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, when King" Ladislaus IV. was invited to share in the de- liberations of a congress which made a re-settlement of the condition of almost all Europe, he paid no heed to the summons, and no plenipotentiaries from his kingdom made their appearance there. But this was a complete mistake on the part of the Poles, and they were soon to be made to feel it.
THE CONDITION OF POLAND, II3
With the French their relations had been some- what strained on account of the cavaHer treatment they had experienced from Henri de Valois. During the succeeding century we shall not find much connec- tion between France and Poland, save the detention of John Casimir when a young man in France, and the embassy sent to fetch Marie Louise, the bride of Ladislaus IV., who, although an Italian princess, was residing at Paris, being a cousin of the Prince de Conde. With Turkey Poland was at peace till the conclusion of the reign of Sigismund III., but she was always considered one of the chief enemies of the Republic, and was easily able to make war upon her from the south. Germany was tranquil during the latter part of the sixteenth century, and we shall see that the house of Habsburg furnished two wives to Sigismund III.
In one respect Batory had done mischief to Poland in introducing and favouring the Jesuits. Some isolated members of that body had penetrated the country in the reign of Sigismund Augustus, but their formal introduction is to be traced to Batory. Singularly enough there appears every reason to believe that on his election to the throne he was a Protestant. Certainly many of the princes of Transylvania were so, only to mention Bethlen Gabor, the hero of the Thirty Years' War. There were active Protestant presses in that principality ; where were published the first books in the Rou- manian language ; some of the most interesting Magyar publications also made their appearance there. It was a kind of intellectual wedge driven
9
114 ^^^ y AG IE LLCS.
into the midst of ignorant and semi-civilised popula- tions. Accordingly when Batory was on the point of being elected the Protestants were pleased with the prospect of having a sovereign of their own faith, but the Romanists were equal to the occasion, and sent a priest named Solikowski to endeavour to con- vert the new monarch. The thirteen members of the delegation commissioned to announce his election to Batory appear to have been Dissidents with the exception of Mniszek, the palatine of Sandomir. He was, however, far from being a bigoted Romanist, for we find one of his daughters married to a member of the Greek communion. Another daughter was the celebrated Marina Mniszek, wife of the false Demetrius. The delegates watched Solikowski care- fully to prevent him if possible from having any private conversation with Batory. But he eluded their vigilance, and had a meeting with the newly- elected king at night. Solikowski thereupon per- suaded Batory that he had no chance of occupying the throne of Poland unless he became a Roman Catholic. Moreover, one of the terms of his election was, as we have previously seen, that he should marry the princess Anna, but this lady was a bigoted Roman Catholic, and not likely to view with favour a Protestant husband. Batory was induced to con- sent, and was soon, to the astonishment of most of the delegates, seen kneeling at mass.
During his reign many enactments were passed against heresy, especially at the famous synod of Piotrkow. Supported by the patronage of the king the Jesuit colleges and schools spread all over the
THE DISSIDENTS. II5
country, and the University of Wilno, founded by Batory, became their headquarters. It was cunningly estabHshed in the centre of a population the great bulk of which was Protestant or Orthodox Greek. Prince Radziwill, the palatine of Wilno, and Eusta- thius Wollowicz, the Vice-Chancellor of Lithuania, who were Dissidents, for a long time refused to affix the seal of the state to the charter for this Jesuit university, but the king disregarded their representa- tions. During the reign of Stephen there were many sanguinary quarrels between the Romanists and the Protestants, which ended in the discomfiture of the latter. Batory was not contented with the University of Wilno, he also set about founding one in Livonia, which had been united to the Polish dominions in the reign of Sigismund Augustus, and was entirely Protestant. Induced by the persuasions of Possevino, a most indefatigable instrument in the hands of the Pope, Batory established the Roman Catholic bishopric of Wenden and Jesuit colleges at Dorpat and Riga. In the latter city he ordered a church to be taken from the Lutherans and given to the Jesuits. The municipal authorities vainly petitioned the king against this arbitrary proceeding. A con- vent of Jesuits was founded at Riga under the direction of Laterna, Skarga, and Bruckner, all cele- brated for their zeal against the Anti-Romanists. In 1585 a riot broke out at Riga, and the church of the Jesuits was attacked. In 1586 another commotion took place, caused by the imprisonment of MoUer, a popular preacher, who had excited the inhabitants against the Jesuits. The superior of that order was
Il6 THE yAGIELLOS.
obliged to leave the city, and the municipality, who could not restrain the mob, endeavoured to act as mediators. They accepted the conditions that the school of the Jesuits should be abolished and that public processions in the streets should be discon- tinued. The king, however, ordered everything to be put upon its former footing. The Jesuits returned to Riga, but a more violent outbreak occurred, and some of the chief magistrates suspected of favouring them were murdered. The king cited the leaders of the insurrection before his tribunal : as they did not appear they were condemned to death m con- Uunaciam at the diet of Grodno in .1586, and the schools and church were to be surrendered to the Jesuits. But in the midst of all these tumults the sudden death of Batory occurred.
With this event the great duel between the Roman Catholics and the Dissidents may be said in the main to have closed. Truly the contests always were raging, but from this time the Romanists had the upper hand. The Jesuits had done it all ; they had got into their hands the education of the country. The Roman Catholics exhibited a compact, united body, who were as great adepts at politics as in religion. The Protestants, on the other hand, were divided, and showed extraordinary weakness and want of cohesion. The Trinitarians refused all co-operation with the Unitarians, and it was the same with the other sects.
Gradually the aristocratic families came over. Many had been reconciled to the Romish Church during the interregnum on the death of Sigismund
ALBERT LASKT. II7
Augustus. Commendonc, the papal legate, was able to announce to the Cardinal of Como the return on his deathbed of the Castellan of Polianica. Christopher Zborowski n:iust be added to the number and many of the Radziwills. Albert Laski, the nephew of the celebrated reformer, we find also joining the Roman Catholics. He seems to have been a vain, cruel man, and blazed for some time the " comet of a season " at the Court of Elizabeth of England, but was compelled to leave our country abruptly on account of his debts.
Before leaving this interesting and important reign we will cite the epitaph on the monument of Batory, as still to be seen in the cathedral of Cracow —
" Pacts belli q7ie artihus magno, JustOy pio felici Victori, Livoniix Poloci-xqtie de Moscho vindici, Aitnajagiellonia Regina Polonice Prccstantiss. Conjtigi. M. F. C, MDXCV., Obiitpridie Idtis Decembris MDLXXXVL Reg. An. X. Men. VIL dies XII. nat. LIV."
VIIT.
FURTHER DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY— REIGNS OF SIGISMUND HI., LADISLAUS IV., JOHN CASI- MIR, AND MICHAEL KORYBUT.
The kingdom was rent into many factions at the time of the death of Batory. The principal were those of the Zamojskis and Zborowskis. These selfish men were worthy predecessors of the con- federates of Targowica. The candidates for the throne included the Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, Feodore Ivanovich, the son of the terrible Ivan, who appears to have been an imbecile, and Sigismund, a Swedish prince, son of Catherine, sister of Sigismund Augustus, who had married John, King of Sweden ( 1 568-1 592), a narrow-minded bigot, who was induced by his wife to attempt to re-introduce the Roman Catholic religion into Sweden. John, Prince of Fin- land, as he was at the time of his marriage, was the brother of the infamous Eric XIV., renowned for his cruelties, and generally supposed to have been insane. The marriage had taken place in 1562 atWilno. The Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the Archduke Ferdinand of
Austria, and Eric himself, had in vain been candidates
118
yOHN OF SWEDEN. II9
for her hand. The young couple proceeded to Stock- holm after their marriage, but suddenly, by the orders of Eric, were imprisoned at Gripsholm. Their cap- tivity lasted several years. Catherine had two children during her imprisonment, a daughter, Isabella, who died soon after its birth, and the son Sigismund, whom we now find the candidate for the Polish throne. Ivan, who throughout his life seems to have been troubled with few scruples about marriage, sent an ambassador to Eric to demand the hand of Cathe- rine again. But she preferred to live and die with her husband. Eric thereupon decided to have his brother assassinated, but on hearing that the Danes had made a descent upon Sweden, he hurried to meet them, and committed a whole series of atrocities. Finally, coming to his senses, he abdicated in favour of John, who, when at the height of his misfortunes, thus ascended the throne of his ancestors, and was crowned at Upsala with Catherine in 1569. The highly dra- matic story of the adventures of him and his wife has been told in a small pamphlet, printed at Cracow in 1570, under the title History a Prazvdzhva o przy- godzie zalosnej Knicizecia Finlandzkiego J ana i Kro- lewny Katarzyny (" Authentic History of the deplorable Misfortunes of John, Prince of Finland, and the Princess Catherine "). It is supposed to have been written by the historian Kromer, and has been lately edited by M. Kraushar.
Sigismund, the Swedish prince, was eventually elected, but Maximilian did not abandon his candi- dature without a struggle, and was defeated by Zamojski, the Polish general, at Byczyna, in Silesia,
SIGISMUND III.
SIGISMUND in. 121
whereupon he consented to withdraw his claims. But this will be by no means the last occasion of the meddling of the Austrians in the affairs of Poland. A serious riot occurred at the election of Sigismund, as we are informed by Lengnich in his J7is Publicum Regni Poloni: the booths occupied by the senators when they met at the place of election near Warsaw — which used to present the appearance of a camp — were burnt to the ground. The new king signed the pacta conventa^ and concluded an alliance offensive and defensive between Poland and Sweden. He soon, however, got tired of his Polish subjects, and became in turn unpopular among them to such an extent that not much more than a year after the commencement of his reign he longed to go back to Sweden, and arranged with his father to do so at an interview which they had at Revel. The Swedes, however, objected to the Polish king's return, probably on the ground of his religion. Nevertheless he came back on the death of his father in 1592. The Polish estates voted him 200,000 gulden for the expenses of his journey ; he sailed from Danzig and reached Stockholm in September, 1593. In. March of the following year he was crowned at Upsala, and consented to allow his Swedish subjects religious liberty, but on his return to Stockholm began to violate all his promises. He made his appearance again in Poland on the i8th of August, having appointed Roman Catholic gover- nors over every Swedish province. During his absence the kingdom of Sweden was in a constant state of commotion between the rival factions of Sigismund and his uncle Karl. In 1598, Sigismund marched into
122 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
Sweden with a small army against his uncle, but was completely defeated at Stangebro, near Linkoping, and forced to quit the country.
The Swedes, however, were determined to have a definite settlement of the claims of the rival candi- dates, and accordingly, in 1600 the Council and Estates of Sweden sent envoys to Poland demanding the immediate return of Sigismund, in default of which they declared the Swedish throne vacant, and requiring that in that case he should send his son Ladislaus to Sweden to be brought up in the Lutheran faith. On Sigismund taking no notice of this demand, he and his heirs were declared to have for- feited the Swedish crown and henceforth his history belongs to Poland only. But we must retrace our steps a little.
In 1592 Sigismund married at Gratz Anne, the daughter of the Austrian Archduke Charles, without the consent of the diet, a proceeding at which his subjects were much offended, because he had set at open defiance one of the most important clauses of the pac^a conventa. The same year took place the Diet of the Inquisition as it was called {Sejm Inkwi- zycyjny)^ in which a searching inquiry was to be made into the recent policy of the king.
As regards religious matters, the country was still in a very troubled state, and things had been going badly with the Dissidents. In 1589 a synod held at Gniezno passed some severe statutes against heresy, and declared among other things that a Roman Catholic alone should be elected to the throne of Poland : this decree was confirmed by a bull of Pope
THE UNTAXES.
123
Sixtus V. But in this respect Poland was only in the same position as other European states, which re- quired that the king should be of the religion of the country, or as it was generally put in the concise way, cujus est regio^ ejus est religio. In 1593, as Sigismund was passing through the province of Prussia, he ordered that the principal churches of Thorn and Elbing, where Protestantism flourished, should be restored to Roman Catholic worship. We shall see at a subsequent period what a baneful effect all this persecution had, and how it helped to bring about the
COIN OF SIGISMUND III.
dismemberment of the country, as these cities easily inclined to a Protestant sovereign. They have now become completely Germanized.
I" I595> ^t Brzcsc in Lithuania took place the so-called Union of the Greek and Latin Churches, an event which must be here explained in a few words. The popes had constantly attempted to bring the Russian Church into harmony with that of Rome. But from the Council of Florence onward they had been unsuccessful ; although Lsidore, the Metropolitan of Moscow, accepted the dignity of a cardinal, and gave in his adhesion, yet on his return
124 ^^^ DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
to his native country he was treated with derision and imprisoned. Fortunately for himself he succeeded in escaping from Russia, to which he never afterwards dared return. Nothing could be hoped from Ivan IV., in spite of the attempts of Possevino and others ; but Sigismund, who was as great a fanatic as Philip 11. of Spain, had many subjects who were adherents of the Greek Church and had come under Polish rule, when the Eastern provinces had been conquered by the Lithuanian Gedymin, and subse- quently united to Poland.
The heathen rulers of Lithuania did not interfere with the religion of their subjects, and the members of the Greek Church continued unmolested even for some time after Ladislaus Jagiello had been converted into a good Roman Catholic. But as time went on things became very different, and the Jesuits, almost as soon as their order was founded, poured in large numbers into Poland and her outlying provinces. One of the most active of these was the celebrated Peter Skarga, who has earned a considerable place in Polish literature. He was unceasing in his efforts to convert the Orthodox Christians. In 1594 four Greek bishops, whose dioceses were in Polish territory, viz., those of Luck, Pinsk, Chelm, and Lemberg, undertook to bring over their flocks to the Roman Catholic doc- trines. They found a useful adherent in the Metro- politan of Kiev, a city which had belonged to Lithua- nian and Pole since the middle of the fourteenth century.
These prelates assembled at Brzes(^ and sent Pociey, Bishop of Vladimir, and Terlecki, Bishop of
yAN zAMoysKL 125
Luck, to the king", who was then at Cracow. Sigis- mund furnished them with letters to the Pope, and they at once proceeded to Rome. Clement VIII. gave them a hearty welcome ; they accepted the chief points of the Council of Florence, admitting iilioqtie in the creed, the doctrine of purgatory, and the papal supremacy, but they were allowed to retain the use of the old Slavonic language in their ritual, and some other points of discipline of the Eastern Church were conceded to them. It was" in this way that the so-called Uniates arose, the number of whom at the present time is very small in Russia ; their stronghold is in Galicia. In 1605 Sigismund, whose [wife had died in 1598, married her sister Constance ; this union was also entered into without the consent of his subjects, and caused the cup of their wrath, already full, to overflow. On this occasion Jan Zamojski, the chancellor, made a violent speech, in which he openly upbraided the king. When Za- mojski had finished, Sigismund, unused to such language, and overpowered with rage, rose from the throne and grasped his sword. At this gesture a murmur of indignation ran through the diet, and Zamojski cried out : " Rex, iie move gladium ; ne te Caiiiui Ccesareuiy nos Bnitos sera posteritas loqtiattir. Siimiis electores regum, dcstinctores tyrannonun ; fegna, sed ne inipera" A great rokosz, or revolt, of the nobles was the result of this outbreak. There had already been one in the reign of Sigismund I. Such a rebellion was in reality permitted by the constitu- tion if the king, disregarding the admonition of the senate, persisted in violating their decrees. The
126 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
clause, sanctioning this opposition, was inserted for the first time into the oath sworn by Henry of Valois on the 17th of September, 1573, in the church of Notre Dame at Paris. It was as follows : ''Et si, quod absit in aliquibus, jtiramentum mettni violavero niillam mihi inclyti regni oinniiunque dominiorum tUriusque gentis (Poles and Lithuanians), obedientiam prcBstare debebunt. Imnio ipso facto eos, ab oimii fide, obedientia regi debita liberos facio, absoliitioneniqiie nullam ab hoc meo juramento a quoqitam petam, neqiie ultro oblatam suspiciam, sic me Deus juvet!'
But the rebels had no good leaders, and the king, weak as he was, was able to defeat them at Guzow, near Radom, on the 6th of July, 1607. The insur- gents were pardoned, for of course the king had no alternative, and thus an end was put to the civil war which seemed on the point of breaking out An important event of this reign was the expedition to Moscow, with Polish assistance, of the man who styled himself Demetrius, the son of Ivan the Terrible. This youth had in reality died mys- teriously at Uglitch, in Russia ; according to some writers by the secret orders of the usurper, Boris Godunov. The antecedents of the adventurer have never been clearly ascertained ; according to the popular view he was a renegade monk, a certain Gregory Otrepiev, others see in him a Roman Catholic agent. We have a full account of the pretender in the quaint work of Captain Margeret, a Frenchman in his service. He distinctly tells us that the false Deme- trius, as he is called, knew neither P>ench nor Latin, and therefore was probably not a Pole. One of his
I
THE FALSE DEMETRIUS. 127
letters to the Pope Is given by Father PierHng in his interesting work. There is Httle doubt but that if the archives of the Vatican were fully examined we should know the whole story of this impostor, and who put him forward ; for he was clearly a tool in the hands of some powerful agents. Whatever the truth may have been, he was acknowledged by Sigis- mund, who assisted him with money and men in his enterprise. The fanatical king perhaps hoped there- by to introduce the Roman Catholic faith into Russia. The pretender married Marina Mniszek, the daughter of the palatine of Sandomir, but his reign was short, lasting only about eleven months. He was murdered in a tumult at Moscow in the year 1606, together with many of the Poles who had accompanied him. The fate of Marina, which was a sad one, belongs more to Russian than Polish his- tory ; she was a woman of unbounded ambition, and her name, boldly written as Tsaritsa of Moscow, may be seen in an album preserved in the University Library at Cracow. Basil Shuiski, who was elected by the Russians to succeed Demetrius, was defeated by the Polish general, Zolkiewski, at Klushino, and carried captive to Warsaw, where he died the follow- ing year. In 16 14 the Poles got possession of Smolensk, that border city which we find so fre- quently changing hands. In 1617 Sigismund sent his son Ladislaus to Moscow, which had been taken by Zolkiewski. He was elected king by a certain iction, but his assumption of sovereignty was dis- tasteful to the bulk of his new subjects, as he was a member of the Latin Church. By the treaty of
128 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
Delilino, in 1618, the Poles abandoned all claims upon Russia, but Smolensk remained in their hands. In 1 62 1 Chodkiewicz, one of the most renowned generals whom Poland ever produced, defeated an army of 400,000 Turks and Tatars at Chocim, a battle very celebrated in Slavonic annals. It has formed the subject of three well-known poems, the Osman of the Ragusan Gundulic, the Woyna CJio- cimska of Potocki, written towards the close of the seventeenth century, found about fifty years ago in manuscript, and for a long time attributed to another author ; and thirdly an epic by the artificial poet, Krasicki, of last century. Two of these works will be rnore fully discussed in our chapter on Polish literature. Legnich in his Jus Ptiblicum Regni Poloni tells us that in 1632 the Cossacks petitioned to be allowed to take part in the diet, but their request was refused with indignation. For this conduct we shall see that the Poles were shortly to pay very dear. The Queen Constance died on the 12th of July, 163 1, and the king on the 30th of April of the following year. The reign of Sigismund was a long one, and full of disasters to his country, with here and there a fruitless victory. The Dissidents were estranged by religious persecutions, the Cossacks were on the eve of thein great rebellion, and the anarchy of the nobles was at its height. In the early part of his reign we see Sigismund attempting to obtain the crown of Sweden, and he seems never to have completely abandoned his hope of succeeding. Instigated by his Austrian wife, he was foolish enough to mix him- self up in the Thirty Years' War, and thought that,
SMOTRYCKI. 129
supported by the German Emperor and the King of Spain, there might be some chance of his getting the Swedish throne. He allowed the Emperor to enrol troops in Poland, and got ready some ships in the Baltic. By the treaty, however, of Marienburg (Mal- borg) in 1629, Sweden gained the rest of Livonia, Elbing, and a part of Prussia.
The Jesuits were very active during his reign, and many Socinians and other Dissidents met with cruel deaths. The Greek Church suffered much persecu- tion, and the condition of its members is graphically described in the celebrated work, the " Lament of the Oriental Church," by Meletius Smotrycki, who was also the author of the first Slavonic grammar. The continued persecutions instigated by Koncewicz, the Bishop of Polock, led to a deplorable event, the murder of that prelate on the 12th of July, 1623. No revolt against the civil authorities followed on this tumult, but severe punishment was inflicted on the town by a commission presided over by the chan- cellor, Leo Sapieha, who had tried in vain to prevent the occurrence by representing to Koncewicz the danger of his proceedings. The two magistrates of the town, and eighteen of tne principal citizens were punished, and its franchises were abolished. It is' in the reign of Sigismund IIL that we have one of the few instances of relations between Poland and Eng- land. An ambassador, Paul Dzialinski, or Jalinus, as he was called in Latin, was sent in 1597 to the Court of Queen Elizabeth. He was a man of stately presence, and appeared in a splendid suit of black velvet. On being brought before the queen he made
10
THE STATUE OF SIGISMUND III. AT WAKSAW.
JAN LASKL 131
a long oration in Latin, complaining of the wars between the English and Spaniards, whereby he asserted that the commerce of Poland was seriously injured. In reply Elizabeth broke out into an angry speech in excellent Latin, in which, as the old chronicler Speed says, " lion-like rising, she daunted the malapert orator, no less with her stately port and majestical deporture than with the tartness of her princely checks." We will take this opportunity of mentioning another Pole, who was for some time in England in the sixteenth century. This was Jan Laski, or John a Lasco, as he is frequently called, born at Lask in the palatinate of Sieradz ; one of the most noble workers among those who propagated the reformed doctrines. After many journeys in Ger- many, Holland, and other parts of the continent, where he associated with the leading Protestants, Laski reached England in September, 1548, when Edward VL was on the throne, and the reformed doctrines were under royal protection. The Pole remained for about eight months the guest of Cran- mer, then primate, and an intimate friendship sprang up between them. In his miscellaneous writings Cranmer says : ^^ JoJiamies a Lasco, vir optiinus niecum Jioscc aliquot menses conjiinctissime et amantissime vixit^ In the middle of March in the following year he left England, but returned in 1550, and again stayed with Cranmer. This excellent man, who seems to have made many friends in England, died on the 8th of January, 1560. Another Pole who lived in England belongs to a later period— Samuel Hartlib, the friend of Milton, to whom the poet dedicated one
&
132 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
of his prose works. Hartlib sprang from Polish Protestants, and permanently took up his abode in this country, where he died soon after the Restora- tion.
During the whole reign of Sigismund III. Poland was in a continual state of decadence. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Ladislaus IV., who was elected by the diet ; at the same time war was declared against the Russians, but it was soon brought to a close by a peace with Michael Romanov, who had been elected Tsar. This peace was signed at Polanow, between Wiazma and Dorogdbuzh. Smolensk remained in the hands of the Poles, but Ladislaus gave up his claims to the title of Tsar, and thus all his attempts to gain the throne of Muscovy resulted in failure. In 1655 peace was also concluded with the Swedes at Stumdorf The king's reign was disturbed by constant quarrels between Roman Catholics and Protestants ; among other enactments prejudicial to the latter, the municipality of Cracow deprived the Protestants of the privileges of burghers. But we must remember that toleration was little understood in the other European countries.
Ladislau^had wished to marry Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick, the palatine of the Rhine, and Eliza- beth, daughter of James I. of England, but the opposition to the king's union with a Protestant was so great, that he looked to the ever-ready house of Austria, and in 1637 he married Cecilia Renata, sister of the Emperor Ferdinand III., and on her death, which took place in 1644, a Mantuan princess, Marie Louise.
MARIE LOUISE. 1 33
In a previous chapter we have seen with what magnificent ceremonies the embassy was accompanied which carried to Henri de Valois, in 1573, the decree of his election to the throne of Poland. But that which was sent to France in 1645 to solicit the hand of Marie Louise was even more splendid, and a short description of it will enable our readers to realise the luxury of old Poland in its days of grandeur. The king, now no longer young, had fallen in love with
COIN OF LADISLAUS IV.
Marie Louise of Gonzaga, a princess of Mantua, on merely seeing her portrait, and immediately sent messengers to Paris where she was living, to ask her hand. These advances having been received, a second embassy much more numerous than the first was formed, at the head of which were the bishop of Warmia, Wenceslaus Leszczynski, and Christopher Opalinski, the palatine of Posen. The French Court had been for some time staying at Fontainebleau, but hastened to return as soon as it was ascertained
134 ^^^ DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
that the ambassadors had arrived at the gates of the capital. While awaiting the day of their solemn entry, which was fixed for Sunday, Oct. 29, 1645, they remained at Reuilly in a country house belong- ing to M. de Rambouillet. On the appointed day M. de Belize, who introduced the ambassadors, brought to their place of residence the Due d'Elboeuf and his son, the Comte d'Harcourt, who were chosen by the king and queen regent to accompany the Polish ambassadors. They were joined by several of the nobility, but matters of etiquette, some of which had to be settled, injured the effect of the ceremony, as the day was already far advanced when the ambas- sadors appeared at the Porte Saint Antoine.
In spite of all this their arrival caused an agreeable surprise, and the Parisians, who came to meet them with the intention of exercising their wits at their expense, were soon obliged to admire instead of criticise unfavourably. At the head of the procession came Girault, who assisted De Belize, and carried out all directions for the maintenance of order. Be- hind him came Chlapowski, captain of the heyduks or guards of the palatine of Posen ; he was dressed in a tight-fitting coat of yellow satin, and a long scarlet cloak, trimmed with sable. His cap was of cloth of gold, with cranes' feathers on the top, fastened with precious stones. In his hands he had a silver- guilt mace. On one side he wore a scimitar, mounted with silver, and on the other side a sword. They were both set with precious stones. The housings of his magnificent charger were of cloth of gold, the stirrups of solid silver. Parts of the harness consisted
THE POLISH EMBASSY. I35
of delicately worked silver chains. Thirty footmen followed him, dressed in jackets of red cloth. They carried carbines and battle-axes. All had their heads shaved in the Polish fashion ; that is, with only a tuft of hair at the top. They had long moustaches. Four guards dressed in the same way preceded them.
Then appeared Fieczowski, the captain of the guards of the Bishop of Warmia. His costume was like that of Chlapowski. He had the same company of men to attend him, but dressed in different colours. Trzeciecki, the first gentleman of the chamber of the palatine, who followed next, was clothed in a pelisse of violet satin, and a Kontusz, or long mantle without a collar — the favourite national dress of the Poles to this day, and one in which they frequently make their appearance in the diet at Cracow. Trzeciecki held a great hammer, with a handle of silver-gilt. Precious stones sparkled on his sword and his scimitar. He was followed by twenty-four gentlemen on horseback. Gowarzewski came next, squire to the Bishop of Warmia, and first gentleman of his chamber. He also was gorgeously apparelled in white satin with a crimson velvet mantle, and he carried a golden mace. Six trumpeters followed ; there were also mounted .soldiers who played military music. The rest of the Polish nobles who followed were all dressed in the same gorgeous style. Several Polish gentlemen, who were residing in Paris, joined the procession of their countrymen. The French Court witnessed the brilliant cortege, and thousands of people swarmed in the streets as the cavalcade went
136 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
slowly past. It was terminated by many splendid carriages, filled with confessors, secretaries, medical men, and other persons attached to the suite of the ambassadors. But of all the members of the proces- sion none was more gorgeous than the Bishop of Warmia, who blazed with diamonds. The cortege at length descended at the Hotel de Vendome. On the 31st of the same month the Polish ambassadors had an audience of the King, Louis XIV., then a mere boy and Anne of Austria, the Queen- Regent, in the Palais Royal in the great gallery. After this cere- mony was over, they proceeded to the Hotel de Nevers, to offer their salutations to their future queen. The Bishop of Warmia made a speech to her in Latin, in the name of the two ambassadors, who then pre- sented to her, together with the letter of the King of Poland, a cross made of six diamonds. The Bishop of Orleans answered on her behalf in another Latin speech. Fresh compliments were exchanged, and the ambassadors retired. The marriage was cele- brated on the 5th of November following. At mid-day the palatine set out from the Hotel de Vendome, accompanied by the gentlemen of his suite, on horse- back, even more richly dressed than on the day when they arrived.
The princess, Marie Louis, was married in the chapel of the Palais Royal to the palatine, who represented the King of Poland. In the name of his royal master he ' offered to the bride a magnificent ring. After the blessing, they placed on the head of the princess a crown, made in imitation of that of Poland, and enriched with pearls and diamonds.
POLISH COOKERY. I37
Anne of Austria commissioned a certain Madame de Guebriant to accompany the young queen to the strange country which thenceforward was to become her home. This lady was widow of a French marshal. On the 27th of November, 1645, after many other banquets and festivities, the ambassadors departed for Poland with their new sovereign. An old English traveller, Peter Mundy, has left a manuscript account of his adventures, still preserved in the Bodleian Library, containing some curious details about Poland, which he had visited among other countries. He was present when the new queen entered Poland, and has described some of the festivities which took place ; among other cities the reception given by Danzig was very magnificent. He tells us that neither bridegroom nor bride were young ; " Hee then aboute 50, and shee 37 yeares of age."
But we have more copious information from another source. The secretary of Madame de Guebriant was named Le Laboureur, and has left an interesting account of the journey of the new Queen. Ladislaus did not survive his wedding more than eighteen months. The Frenchmen of the time of our secretary shewed the same contempt for a foreign aiisine as their descendants do now, to judge by the account he gives of the Polish dishes :
" The preparation of the viands was very fine, and so well arranged that the officers did not boast without reason of having taken a great deal of trouble ; the order in which the things were arranged, and their appearance pleased the eyes extremely, and truly gave an appetite. But those who first tasted the
138 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
sauces did not return to them, and in a short time one saw a marvellous temperance diffused generally among all the French. It was only the Poles who exulted over them, praising loudly the goodly number of spices, the saffron and the salt, which the cooks had lavished so prodigally. They might well pledge the health of our people, who did not so freely or so heartily reply to them. I had the curiosity to come to these repasts several times ; and I may truly say that never did the picture of the marriage of Cana appear to me better represented for the dishes and the meats were always in the same state. On the pates, the greater part of which were gilded, there were figures painted with the feathers or hair of the animals which they contained, and also on the dishes. These objects amused the sight, while the music, which was at the other end of the hall, delighted the mind and ear. The dessert consisted of several candied fruits, sugared delicacies and con- fectionary, and also of certain frozen dainties, of which little was eaten. This is the reason why who- ever could escape from these feasts ran to our inn, where we ate in the French style all the meats which the Poles had supplied to our purveyors."
In one of our concluding chapters another descrip- tion will be given from contemporary accounts of the Polish banquets. The complaints of the Frenchman will remind us of those of Desportes, already quoted. As regards the frozen dish which seems to have scandalised Le Laboureur so much, it may possibly have been the cholodziec, a favourite Lithuanian pre- paration, often mentioned approvingly by Mickiewicz
THE COSSACKS.
139
in Pan Tadetisz. Its ingredients are said to have been beetroot leaves, cream and fruit congealed.
But to return to Ladislaus, the king. The most important event of his reign was the rebellion of the Cossacks under Bogdan Khmelnitski. A few words may here be said in explanation of the term Cossack, which is said, with considerable probability, to be derived from the Turkish word Kazak, meaning a robber. The origin of these bold soldiers can be traced to the fugitives of many nations, Poles, Russians, Malo-Russians, Tatars, and others who occupied the vast steppes stretching between the confines of Poland and Turkey. They had es- tablished a kind of military republic on some islands in the Dnieper, called the Sech, and into this no woman was allowed to penetrate. Traces of earth- works thrown up on the banks of the river are to be found even in the present day.
These Cossacks elected their own hetman or governor, a word in all probability derived from the German hauptman, as is shown by its analogous use in Lithuania and Bohemia. He carried a mace as a badge of his authority. Like the consuls of ancient Rome, he could only claim this authority over them when he led them forth to battle. They ate their meals at public tables ; and appear to have passed most of their time in drunken orgies. They set out for their naval expeditions in chaiki (a word which is probably connected with the Turkish caique), and carried on their depredations under the very walls of Constantinople. But to read of their achievements we must make ourselves acquainted with the work
140 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
of Messrs. Dragomanov and Antonovich, containing their songs, which, unfortunately, has never been completed.
The prudent policy of Stephen Batory had con- verted these brave marauders into regiments of frontiersmen, who could restrain the constant ir- ruptions of Turk, Tatar, and Wallachian, from whom the Poles so grievously suffered. They were, however, staunch adherents of the Greek Church, and, as such, were not likely to be left alone by the Jesuit emissaries of Sigismund III. We have already seen with what insolence their request was met to have a seat in the diet. In the transactions between them and the Poles we constantly find that faith was not kept with them. Pawluk, one of their hetmans, was induced to go to Warsaw on a promise of safe conduct, and was there decapitated. Bogdan Khmel- nitski defeated the Poles at the battle of Yellow Springs (Zholtia Vodi) ; but just about this time King Ladislaus died at Merecz in Lithuania, be- tween Grodno and Wilno, May 20, 1648, leaving his kingdom in a great state of confusion.
In 1 641, at a diet, the Elector of Brandenburg re- nounced his homage to the Polish republic. We can see this small country, which was blessed with such able rulers, slowly increasing at the expense of its turbulent and imprudent neighbour. The school of the Socinians at Rakow was abolished in 1638; this was the place at which the famous catechism was issued by the brothers Socini. On the 28th of August, 1645, met at Thorn the Colloquium Charita- tivumy as it was called, the object of which was to
COLLOQUIUM CHARITATIVUM. I4I
reconcile the various religious sects by which the Republic was agitated. This had been convened by the express wish of the king. But, to begin with, the Socinians were excluded. Those who attended the congress held thirty-six meetings, but their con- ferences bore no fruit. The Colloquium was closed on the 2 1st of November with very little ceremony. Its transactions were published at Warsaw in 1646 under the title, ^^Acta co?iventtis Thoruniensis celebrati anno \6\^^pro ineunda ratione componendoruni Dissidiorinn in Religione per Regnnm PoloniceT
Ladislaus left no children, and was succeeded by his brother John Casimir (Jan Kazimierz), who ascended the throne in 1649, and abdicated in 1668. John was elected by the diet on November 20, 1648, and crowned on the 17th of January in the following year. The other candidates for the throne were Alexis of Russia, the father of Peter the Great, and Ragoczy, Prince of Transylvania, a celebrated Hun- garian hero. The glorious reign of Stephen Batory had made such a candidate still possible. The idea of a union of the two great Slavonic powers under the Tsar frequently came up, but the Poles did not favour it.
One of the first acts of the new king was an attempt to come to terms with Bogdan ; but the negotiations were brought to an end by the treachery of the Polish general, Wisniowiecki, who fell upon the Cossacks while they were deliberating about the terms of the proposed convention, and defeated them with great slaughter. Bogdan, however, rallied and col- lected another army, which was defeated on June 28,
I St.RENISSlN^ETPoTENTISSIMoriaNCEPS AcDoMINj. I DlOANNES CASIMraUSD.G.REXToLONLf:,M\GNc I DUXLlTHUA]SrLE,IlUSSL5:,PRUSSLE.MA.SOVLE,S A { MOGlTLt LlVONLf'.,SMDIZNSCn,SlVEiazE,CZi:KNIHC5Vl i f Tv^TCTsfON SUECOR GOTHDBA^»!m\LORT3MQjiERH5rrAR 0^ I. \
JOHN CASIMIR.
LIB BRUM VBTO. 143
165 1, at the battle of Beresteczko In Galicia. The struggle partook to a large extent of the nature of a holy war, as the Cossacks and Malo-Russians generally were of the Greek faith, and the objects of their special hatred were the Roman Catholics and Jews. Through- out the contest the massacres committed on both sides were appalling, and give one a curious idea of the state of the country. Bogdan, finding at last that single-handed he stood no chance of resisting the Polish king, sent an emissary to Moscow in 1652, offering to transfer himself and his Cossack de- pendents to the allegiance of the Tsar, Nego- tiations were finally concluded at Pereiaslavl, when Khmelnitski and seventeen Malo-Russian regiments took the oath to Buturlin, the Tsar's commissioner.
At a diet in 165 1 the first instance occurred of a single nuntius bringing the proceedings to a close, by using the libeiiun veto, or, as it was called in Polish, niepozivalam, I forbid. This was done by Sicinski, a deputy from Upita, in Lithuania. We have previously said that the germ of this custom can be traced as far back as the time of King Alexander, and, indeed, it has been shown that unanimity of vote was an idea deeply rooted in the Slavonic mind. It can be found in the early Sobori or assemblies of Russia ; but it carried with it many disadvantages : it was easy to hire a venal nuntius. " The lord high treasurer," says Lind in his " Letters concerning the Present State of Poland," London, 1773, p. 32, "had a complete con- trol of public finance ; he was appointed by the king, but not liable to be removed by him even in
144 ^^^ DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
case of mal-administration. His accounts were to be delivered to the diet ; but it was easy for a treasurer, who had embezzled the public money, to evade giving them : either they were brought in too late to be examined — for the sessions of each diet were limited to six weeks — or during the course of the examination some venal nuntius was hired (and enough were to be found), who pronounced the fatal ve^o, and the diet was dissolved." An instance is re- corded by Bernard Connor, the physician of John Sobieski, who has left us an interesting book on Poland, that Count Morsztyn, great treasurer of the country, sent a considerable quantity of plunder out of Poland, and bought an estate in France, contriving to avoid the inquiries of the diet. In this way, not only the treasurer, but the other great officers of the realm, the commander-in-chief and marshal among others, got free from the control of the diet. It was only before the diet that a noble accused of capital crimes could be brought to trial, and it would be very convenient for him to stay the proceedings of the only tribunal by which he could be convicted. It was also an admirable way of opposing the levying of taxes, which could only be raised by the consent of the diet. The Dissidents were not likely to fare well under the rule of John Casimir, who had been ordained priest before coming to the throne, and even held the rank of Cardinal in the Romish Church. They were cruelly persecuted in Great Poland, and subscriptions were raised for them in England and Holland. By an enactment of the diet of 1658 the Socinians were expelled the country. But the misfortunes of the
INVASION OF THE SWEDES. I45
reign of John Casimir were not limited to internal disturbances ; the foreign wars of the Republic were especially disastrous.
In consequence of the Polish monarch asserting his claim to the throne of Sweden as a member of the house of Vasa, Charles Gustavus, who had suc- ceeded on the abdication of Christina, took advantage of the weakness of the country and invaded Poland with sixty thousand men. Both Warsaw and Cracow submitted to him, and he advanced as far as Lem- berg in Galicia. John Casimir fled into Silesia, but his subjects rallied round him, and he succeeded eventually in driving out Charles Gustavus, who had been assisted in many places by the Polish king's own rebellious subjects. No treachery is more remarkable than that of Opalinski, the voievode of Posen, who betrayed that province to the Swedes, notwithstanding the railing satires which he has written on the universal corruption of mankind. But Opalinski did not long survive his shameful treason. Among the allies of Charles was the Elector of Brandenburg, ever prudent and watching his opportunity, who, in consequence of the assis- tance which he rendered to the king, was definitively released from his homage in 1657. The Swedish king is even said to have proposed the partition of the country : he offered Great Poland to the Elector of Brandenburg, Little Poland to the Duke of Tran- sylvania, and a great part of Lithuania to one of the great Radziwill family. But Poland's hour had not yet come. We get some curious details of the war from the diary of Patrick Gordon, the Scotch ad-
II
146 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
venturer, which is still preserved in manuscript in Russia. Gordon fought at first on the side of the Swedes, but afterwards, having been taken prisoner by the Poles, was forced to join their ranks. But we soon find him with the Swedes again, dispersed through whose regiments were a great many of his countrymen. In 1658 John Sobieski, the future con- queror of the Turks, tried to secure the services of the Scotch adventurer as commander of a company of dragoons in a body of troops stationed on the Sobieski estates. This was characteristic of Poland, each nobleman having his own little army. There was no statute of maintenance to restrain them. Gordon declined the offer ; he tells us in his diary that he found Sobieski courteous, but a hard bar- gainer. In 1660 a treaty was signed at Oliwa, near Danzig, in which John Casimir abandoned all claims to the throne of Sweden and ceded all Livonia, except a small portion on the banks of the Dwina. Before beginning our account of the wretched in- ternal tumults which harassed Poland during the last years of this sovereign's rule, we will mention the further losses of territory which she underwent. In 1667 ^v^s signed the truce of Andruszowo (near Smolensk), by which Smolensk was ceded to Alexis, the Tsar of Russia, and with it Kiev and all the left bank of the Dnieper. Kiev was to be given back to Poland in two years' time, but Alexis kept it because the Poles did not fulfil the terms of the truce. They finally abandoned all claim to it in 1686. The king was always very much under the influence of Marie Louise, his brother's wife, whom he had married. In
MARIE LOUISE. I47
the commonplace book of the Polish noble Jan Golliusz, now preserved in the British Museum, from which Prof Kallenbach has published some interest- ing extracts, the following epigram is to be found : —
" Carmina de noxiis interitum
Polonise acceleraturis conscriptse {stc)
A quodam equite Polono. Anno, 1662.
Foemina Rex, opressus {szc) Eques, Seruusque Senatus
Vanaque Lex, exhausla Plebs, ac falsa moneta ;
Irrita pax, nee tuta fides, Clerique potestas :
Ultima fata tui crede o Sarmatia regni."
The queen was favourable to a French alliance, and detested Austria and her traditional policy of interfering in the affairs of Poland. She accordingly persuaded her husband to propose in the diet that the Duke of Enghien, son of the great Conde, should be named his successor. He had married her niece. This caused a considerable commotion, as it was contrary to the principles of the Polish constitution. A stormy scene occurred, and it was on this occasion that John Casimir told the Poles that their constant dissensions must certainly lead to the dismemberment of the Republic, uttering the memorable words, " l/^i- nani siin falsiis vates^ An active member in opposi- tion to the king was the powerful palatine Lubomirski. In consequence of this he incurred the hostility of the queen, and broke out into open rebellion, having the command of his large body of retainers, as every nobleman had in the good old days of Poland, and a state of society was produced something like England experienced in the time of the Wars of the Roses. He was not quelled without considerable bloodshed
148 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
on both sides, and retiring to Breslau (Wroclaw), just over the Polish frontier, in Austrian territory, died soon after.
In 1667 the queen expired, a woman of beauty and spirit, but of a turbulent disposition. The kingdom was in a deplorable condition, exhausted by foreign wars and internal tumults. The devastations caused by the Tatars and Cossacks must be added to these disasters.
John Casimir, as we have already said, was originally an ecclesiastic ; he now resolved to betake himself again to the cloister at the age of sixty-eight, worn out by anxiety and the sufferings which he saw every- where around him, the turbulence of the nobility, and feeling keenly the loss of his wife. He accordingly resigned his crown on the i6th of September, 1668. Before doing so he hacT consulted the other sovereigns of Europe, who dissuaded him from the step. His speech on the occasion has been preserved, and has been rightly characterised as a fine piece of eloquence. A copy of it is to be found among the Rawlinsonian manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. It is too long to be quoted in extenso, but the following sentence is eloquent : " Igitur funeris regice inece dignitatis superstes, seculo vero hide inortnus^ pro pulcJiro hoc solio sepidcJiriim, proque regali globe terrcs glebmn eligo."
John Casimir had warned the Poles of the inevitable effect of their constant dissensions, as Skarga had warned them in his sermons before the diet. He had even prophesied that the Russians would take Lithuania, the Prussians Poland, and the Austrians
ABDICATION OF JOHN CASIMIR.
149
Galicia. With John Casimir the race of the Jagiellos, continued in the branch line of the Vasas, ceased. Up to this time the hne of the Jagiellos had been more or less continued, with the intercalary reign of Batory, for we need not pay much attention to the five months' rule of Henry of Valois. In fact, in the person of John Casimir terminated the three lines of the Piasts, the Jagiellos, and the Vasas. According to a recent notice in a German newspaper, a Prince Ignaz Jagiello died at Grodno on the i6th of July
COIN OF JOHN CASIMIR.
last year (1891); he is said to have been the last of the Jagiellos.
Bernard Connor, the physician of John Sobieski, previously quoted, writes as follows : " While I was at Warsaw I spoke with several old gentlemen, who told me that Casimir the day after his resignation, observing the people hardly paid him the respect due to a gentleman, much less to a king, seemed to have repented heartily of the folly he had committed. After his abdication the king retired to France, in which country through the intrigues of Richelieu, he had been detained for two years (^1638-1640) as
150 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
a hostage while passing its coasts. A few words may be devoted to this romantic episode before we close our account of his career.
In his youth Casimir, who was eager for military adventure, had served in the German army against the French during the Thirty Years' War. His brief appearance, however, in this capacity was not marked by success, and after being defeated in a battle by the French general Merode, he returned to Poland. Here, disliking an idle life at Court, he was induced to travel. His plan was to visit first the northern parts of Italy, then to repair to Spain, and on the way back to see something of France, England, and Holland. He meditated then returning to Italy and the Papal States for the purpose of paying his homage to the Pope, and so on by the nearest route to Poland ; and it was calculated that his journey would take three years. To avoid troublesome ceremonials, John Casimir was to travel under the simple name of " ambassador." He left Warsaw with his suite on the 27th of January, 1638, and it is said that the astrologers, who were consulted about his journey, warned him to beware of France. On the shores of this country, however, the Polish prince was so foolish as to land, and to his surprise found himself detained by the orders of Richelieu, who then virtually governed France. After having been transferred from one place of residence to another, and enduring many petty indignities, John Casimir was finally released. A Polish embassy made its appearance in Paris on the 17th of January, 1640, and the terms of his surrender were settled. He did not receive his liberty
I
DEATH OF JOHN CAS I MIR. 151
till he had undertaken never to bear arms against France so long as the Spanish war should continue.
Casimir was now, in the decline of life, to visit the country again. Louis XIV. received him kindly, and gave him the Abbeys of St. Germain and St. Martin, from the revenues of which he drew his subsistence, as the Poles did not trouble themselves to continue the pension which they had promised him. He does not, however, seem to have remained in the priestly office till his death, although he sur- vived his abdication only four years. He is said to have secretly married Marie Mignot, who had originally been a laundress, but was then widow of the Marechal de I'Hopital. John Casimir died on the 1 6th of December, 1672, at Nevers. His body was brought to Cracow and buried in the cathedral at the same time with that of his successor Michael, the day before the coronation of Sobieski. His heart, was given to the monks of the Abbey of St. Germain and now rests in the Church of St. Germain des pres at Paris, where there is a handsome monu- ment to his memory with a long Latin inscription. The king is represented kneeling, holding out his crown and sceptre. Underneath is a well-executed bas-relief of a battle between the Poles and Cossacks. The last illness of the priestly king is said to have been aggravated by his receiving the news that Ka- mieniec in Podolia had been surrendered to the Turks by the disgraceful peace of Buczacz. Such was the end of John Casimir, an amiable but weak man, during whose reign the country saw an unusual amount of disasters. In consequence of his banishment of the
152 THE DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
Socinians from Poland he was honoured by Pope I
Alexander with the title of Rex OrtJiodoxus. Three candidates for the vacant throne now made their appearance — the Prince of Conde, the Prince of Neuburg, supported by Louis XIV., and Charles of Lorraine, the candidate of Austria. It will be seen how completely the election of the Polish sovereign was a matter of European competition and we might be sure that it would be difficult to find in such candidates any real sympathies with the Poles as a nation. The first of the three mentioned was supported by John Sobieski, who had now for some time been a very prominent man in Poland. The Diet met for election in 1669. The nobles made their appearance in gorgeous fashion. Prince Michael Radziwill came with six hundred dragoons, not to mention the gentlemen of his party, and other noblemen brought even larger con- tingents. We must remember that the Polish nobles were allowed to keep their own guards, both of horse and foot, and it is said that some appeared at the diet with a thousand men.
On the present occasion there was a great deal of tumult, and some of \.\iQ posly or mmtii are said to have been actually killed. But during one of the meetings of the diet some one called out that a Piast ought to be elected, i.e.^ one of the blood of the ancient Polish sovereigns, and the choice fell upon Michael Korybut Wisniowiccki, of a noble family indeed, but so poor that, according to some writers, it was not at first supposed that his candidature would meet with any supporters. The scene at the election has been
MICHAEL KORYBUT.
153
described in the valuable contemporary memoirs of Jan Chryzostom Pasek (Wilno, 1843). Michael was thirty years of age at the time of his election. He is said to have shed tears and to have been as averse to sovereignty as the Emperor Claudius. He probably
COIN OF MICHAEL.
ew that he would have to rule over a turbulent ; people, who would show but little respect for his
I authority. In 1670 he married Eleonora, the sister of the German Emperor Leopold. At a diet held during that year, the nobles bound themselves by an I
154 ^^^ DECLINE OF THE COUNTRY.
oath not to make use of the liberum veto, but in spite of their resolution that very diet was brought to an end by the appearance of Zabokrzycki, the nuntius from Wroclaw in Podolia. In the year 1672, the Poles were compelled at the peace of Buczacz to cede Kamieniec Podolski to the Turks, and to agree to pay them a yearly tribute. The Ottomans held this picturesque city on the Dnieper till 1699, ^^^ ^^ elegant minaret adjoining the cathedral there still bears testimony to their former occupation. By the great victory gained by Sobieski at Chocim in the following year much was done to repair the Polish losses ; the day before the battle (loth of November) the unhappy Michael, whose short reign had been one of continued treason and con- spiracy on the part of his subjects and disgrace to the country, expired at Lemberg, in the thirty-fifth year of his age, after having reigned four years and a few months. His death was so sudden that it was attributed by some to poison ; others think that he caused it by his excessive gluttony. He was a man of contemptible character, and if the portraits of him which have been preserved may be relied upon, of singularly unprepossessing appearance, with swarthy and coarse features. The fortunes of Poland had now sunk very low, but her star was destined to shine fof a brief period in the glorious reign of Sobieski, and then to set, perhaps for ever.
IX.
THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKL (1674- 1 696.)
John Sobteski, the deliverer of Vienna from the Turks, was the son of James Sobieski, the castellan of Cracow, and was born in 1629. His father wrote a short treatise on education for his use, which has been preserved, and illustrates the condition of Polish society at the time.
Soon after the death of Michael, the diet met at Warsaw in 1674. There were several candidates ; among others, Charles of Lorraine, and Philip of Neuburg, again put forward their claims. While the nobles were still in session Sobieski, fresh from his glorious victory, entered and proposed the Prince of Conde. A stormy discussion ensued, and in the midst of it one of the nobles, Jablonowski, was heard to say, " Let a Pole rule over Poland." The cry was echoed by many of those present, and Sobieski, the foremost man of the country, was appointed king under the title of John III., not without some op- position from Michael Pac, the hetman of Lithuania. But he had no time to rest upon his laurels ; in the
155
156 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKL
year 1676 he was obliged to proceed to the field of battle to encounter an invasion of the Turks in conjunction with the Tatars, under the command of the Seraskier Ibrahim, who from his ferocious character was called Shaitan, or devil. Sobieski had only 20,000 men to oppose to the vast host which had invaded the country. For some time he was hemmed in by his adversaries at Zurawno, in Galicia ; but, by his splendid generalship and bravery, he succeeded in rescuing himself and his soldiers, and managed to conclude a treaty with Turkey, by which part of the Ukraine and Podolia were got back.
A few years of internal struggles followed, in which the rebellious diets exhibited more anarchy than ever ; at a time when the king could have put the country into an excellent state of defence he was resisted by the factions which were too powerful for him. The Turks, however, were now preparing for their great invasion of Austria, and the prize was to be the imperial city of Vienna. This siege is so well known that it will only be necessary here to give the main outlines of events.
News had reached the city on the 8th of December, 1682, of the enormous preparations of the Turks. They began their march from Belgrad, about the 30th of June, 1683, burning and plundering all before them, and committing atrocious massacres of the inoffensive inhabitants. On the 7th of July the pusillanimous Emperor Leopold had fled from the city. His countenance, as it has come down to us on the canvas of many a painter, shows him to have
SIEGE OF VIENNA.
157
been a man of mean capacity. But he came from a house not noted for great men. Leopold, mistrusting his own dominions, retired with his family to the Bavarian fortress of Passau. They were followed by the carriages of the wealthier inhabitants, who left the city to the number of 60,000. This selfish conduct aroused the indignation of the people who were left behind to meet their fate. Many of these fugitives, however, paid the penalty of their cowardice, falling into the hands of the Turks by whom they were at once massacred. The great diminution in the number of citizens capable of bearing arms, caused by this defection, somewhat intimidated the inhabitants ; but something like confidence was restored by the arrival of Count Stahremberg, a tried soldier, to whom the Emperor had committed the defence of the city. All classes, including even priests and women, were put to work at the fortifi- cations, the burgomaster. Von Liebenberg, set an admirable example by his unwearied exertions. The Imperial archives had already been removed ; it now only remained for the city to calmly await the approaching danger; fire and smoke all round told of the towns and villages which had fallen into the power of the enemy. The number of men under arms in the city amounted to 20,000, and the re- maining population to 60,000. At sunrise on July 14th, the invaders appeared before Vienna, a countless horde of soldiers, and their followers with baggage and camels. The camp was arranged in the form of a crescent, and conspicuous above all other things was the tent of the Vizier and commander-in-chief,
158 THE REIGN OF yOHN SOBIESKI.
Kara (black) Mustapha, which was of gorgeous green silk ; it may be seen preserved in the museum of Dresden, together with many other trophies, including one of the great camp kettles.
The sad fate of the little town of Perchboldsdorf, the inhabitants of which were massacred on the 14th of J^J^yj gave the Viennese a token of what they might expect if their city was taken. Before relief came to the beleaguered inhabitants, they had under- gone many perils, not the least of which were a fire which broke out in the city, but was luckily got under in time, and a disease which raged among them on account of their being obliged to live in such close quarters and their food being chiefly salt meat. The siege teemed with picturesque and romantic incidents, but the enumeration of them would occupy too much space. It is a continual story of mining and counter- mining ; of furious assaults met with equal fury by the besieged. Spies were occasionally sent out, and the heroism of one, a Pole named Kolszicki, who happened to be a resident of the city, is deserving of some notice. He had previously been an interpreter in the employ of the Eastern Merchants' Company, and had served since the siege began as a volunteer. Intimately conversant with the Turkish language and customs, he willingly offered himself for the dangerous task of passing through the camp of the Turks to convey intelligence to the Imperial army on its march. On the 13th of August, accompanied by a servant of similar qualifications, he was let out through a gate in the Rothenthurm, and escorted by an aide-de-camp of the commandant as far as the
I
PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF VIENNA IN 1683.
l6o THE REIGN OF yOHN SOBIESKI.
palisades. He had scarcely advanced a hundred yards when he noticed a large body of horse moving rapidly towards his place of exit. Being as yet too near the city to escape suspicion, he hastily turned to the left and concealed himself in the cellar of a ruined house of the suburb near Altlerchenfeld, where he kept close till he heard that the cavalry had passed. He then pursued his course, and singing a Turkish song, traversed at an idle pace and with an un- embarrassed air the streets of Turkish tents. His cheerful mien and familiar strains took the fancy of an Aga, who invited him into his tent, treated him with coffee, listened to more songs, and to his tale of having followed the army as a volunteer, and cautioned him against wandering too far and falling into Christian hands. Kolszicki thanked him for his advice, passed on safely through the camp, and then as unconcernedly made for the Kahlenberg and the Danube. Upon one of its islands he saw a body of men, who, misled by his Turkish attire, fired upon him and his companion. These were some inhabi- tants of Nussdorf, headed by the bailiff of that place, who had made this island their temporary refuge. Kolszicki explained to them in German the object of his mission, and entreated them to allow him to pass the river. This request being granted, he reached without further difficulty the bivouac of the Imperial army, then on its march between Angern and Stillfried. After delivering and receiving des- patches, the adventurous pair set out on their return. They had some narrow escapes from the Turkish sentries, passed the palisades, and re-entered the city
KOLSZICKI. l6l
by the Scottish gate, bringing a letter in which relief was promised at the end of August at the latest. He also told them that Pressburg had surrendered to the Imperialists. The safe return of the bearer of the despatch was announced as usual, by rockets as night signals, and in the day by a column of smoke from the lofty spire of St. Stephen's Cathedral, which throughout served the Commandant as a watch-tower. On the 2 1st of August Kolszicki, who reminds us very much of Kavanagh at the siege of Lucknow, was on the point of repeating his dangerous errand, when a deserter who had been recaptured, and was standing under the gallows with the halter adjusted, confessed that he had furnished to the Turks an accurate description of the Pole. He was himself deterred by this warning, but his gallant companion, George Michailovich, found means twice to repeat the exploit with the same success as in the first instance. On his second return he displayed a remarkable presence of mind and vigour of arm. Having nearly reached the palisades, he was joined by a Turkish horseman, who entered into conversa- tion with him. As it was, however, impossible for him to follow his route to the city any further in such company, by a sudden blow he struck the Turk's head from his shoulders, and springing on the rider's horse, made his way to the gate. He did not, how- ever, tempt his fortune again. He brought on this occasion an autograph letter from the Emperor full of compliments and promises, which was publicly read in the Rathhaus. Kolszicki was rewarded by permission to set up the first coffee-house in Vienna.
12
1 62 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKI.
The head of the guild of traders is bound to this day to have in his house a portrait of the brave messenger (see " Sieges of Vienna by the Turks," translated from the German of Karl Schimmer).
But relief was at last approaching. The Elector of Saxony reached Krems, near Vienna, on the 28th of August. Sobieski, whom the Emperor himself had solicited, and who was looked upon as the saviour of Europe, set out from Cracow on the 15th of August ; he was accompanied by his son James. The queen, Marie Casimire, went with her husband to the Polish frontier. They separated at Tarnowitz, the first town in Silesia. Sobieski crossed the Danube by a bridge at the town of Tulln. This bridge the carelessness of the Vizier had allowed to be constructed. Here Sobieski joined the army of Charles of Lorraine, who had been one of his rivals for the crown of Poland ; but no jealousies appear to have marred the inter- course of these brave men. The bridge was passed on Monday, the 6th of September. The beautiful condition of the Polish cavalry struck all beholders. The united army amounted to 70,000 men. On the 1 2th of September, after mass, Sobieski began the battle : he appeared with his head shaven in the Polish fashion ; on his left was his son James, on his right Charles of Lorraine. The assault was made simultaneously on the wings and centre of the enemy. The king bore down all before him, saying, " JVon nodis, non nobis, Doinine exercitmim, sed nomini tiio da glorianir In spite of their desperate fighting the Turks were overpowered by the fiery onslaught of the Poles. Six pashas were slain, and the Vizier fled
RETREAT OF THE TURKS. 1 63
with the remnant of his army. The booty gained was immense. In the course of his retreat from the field of battle, the Vizier, Kara Mustapha, reached Belgrad. He was destined to atone for his failures by the usual fate of disgraced ministers and generals in Turkey. On the 25th of December of the same year, the messengers charged with the Sultan's orders made their appearance in the city. From one of the windows of his palace Mustapha beheld the emissaries approach, and with the conventional stoicism of the Turks submitted to the bow-string. His head was sent to the Sultan, who afterwards caused it to be given back to the city of Belgrad, and it was there deposited in a mosque. When that city was sur- rendered subsequently to the Christians, the head of the Vizier was discovered and sent by Bishop Kol- lonitsch to Vienna, where it now adorns the arsenal. It looks like the skull of a low-organized, almost brutal man.
We are enabled to follow the battle in its minutest details by means of the letters which Sobieski wrote to his wife, which have luckily been preserved. She was a Frenchwoman, named Marie Casimire d'Arquiens, daughter of Henri dc la Grange, cap- tain of the guard to Philip, Duke of Orleans, and had been originally maid of honour to Marie Louise, wife successively of Ladislaus and Casimir. She was then married to Count Zamojski, and after his death became the wife of Sobieski. Louis XIV., in his jealousy towards tlie house of Austria, would have been quite willing that she should be sacrificed, and accordingly did what he could to deter Sobieski from
164 THE REIGN OF yOHN SOBIESKI.
rendering assistance. He had, however, insulted the hero's French wife by refusing the title of duke to her father, and she used all her influence with her husband to induce him to assist Austria, a country for which otherwise he had very little predilection. Moreover, in her sympathies she had become a complete Pole, and in the Polish language her husband's letters to her were written.
It is from these letters that we are able to form an excellent idea of the progress and successes of Sobieski. This great man was completely under the dominion of his wife, and during all the harassing events of the campaign we find him continually writing to soothe her jealousy. He thus expresses himself in one of these epistles : —
" I must complain of you to yourself, my charming and incomparable Mariette. How is it possible that you have not a better opinion of me after all the proofs of tenderness which I have given you ? Can you seriously affirm that I do not read your letters ? Can you believ^e it, while it is a fact that in the midst of all my occupations and cares I read each of them at least three times ? the first time when they come ; the second when I go to bed — in fact, when I am free ; and the third when I set about answering them. I intreat you, my love, for my sake, not to rise so early. What constitution could endure it, especially when a person goes to rest so late as you do. You will pain me greatly if you pay no attention to my request ; you will deprive me of rest and health, and, what is much worse, you will injure your own, which is my only consolation in
THE king's letter. 165
is world. ... So do not throw the blame of your own fault upon another ; but show me, on the con- trary, by words, and especially by action, that you will preserve a constant attachment for your faithful and devoted Celadon."
How strange it is to find the corpulent soldier adopting, according to the fashion of his time, the picturesque name of a shepherd ! Such was the thraldom in which this tyrannical lady held the hero. But history has reason to be deeply grateful to her, for she is the means of our getting very valuable information.
The most interesting of all the letters is that in which the conqueror gives an account of his victory, and we here add it in full : —
F
" In the Tent of the Vizier.
" The i^th of September, at night. Only joy of my soul, charming and much loved MariettQ ! God be praised for ever ! He has given the victory to our nation ! He has given such a triumph as past ages have never seen. All the artil- lery, all the camp of the Musulman.s, infinite riches have fallen into our hands. The approaches to the city, the fields round, are covered with the dead of the infidel army, and the remains of it are flying in consternation. Our people are bringing us every minute camels, mules, oxen, and sheep, which the enemy had with him, and besides an innumerable quantity of prisoners. The victory has been so sudden and so extraordinary that, in the city as in the camp, there was always a state of alarm. People
1 66 THE REIGN OF yOHN SOBIESKT.
fancied every moment that they saw the enemy return. He has left in powder and ammunition to the vakie of a million florins. I was witness this night to a spectacle which I had long desired to see. Our baggage-companies have in several places set fire to gunpowder ; the explosion was like that of the Last Judgment, without, however, doing injury to any one. I could see on the occasion in what way clouds are formed in the atmosphere, but it is a misfortune ; it is really a loss of half a million. The Vizier, Kara Mustapha, abandoned everything in his flight, he has only kept his clothing and horse. It is I who am his heir, for the greater part of his wealth has fallen into my hands.
"Advancing with the first Hne, and driving the Vizier before me, I met with one of his servants, who conducted me into the tents of his private court ; these tents alone occupy a space as great as the city of Warsaw or Lemberg. I seized all the decorations and flags which were ordinarily carried before the Vizier. As to the grand standard of Mahomet, which his sovereign entrusted to him for this war, I sent it to the Holy Father by Talenti. Moreover, we have rich tents, superb equipages, and a thousand other very rich and very beautiful toys. I have not seen all yet ; but there is no comparison with what we saw at Chocim (where, it will be remembered, Sobieski won a victory over the Turks about the time of the death of King Michael Korybut) ; four or five quivers mounted with rubies and sapphires are worth alone some thousands of ducats. You will not, then, say to me, my love, like the Tatar women to
THE KING S LETTER.
167
their husbands, when they return without booty, ' You are no warrior, since you have not brought me anything ; for only the man who goes in front can get anything.' I have also a horse once belonging to the Vizier, with all his harness. He himself was pursued very closely, but he escaped. His kiyaia, or first lieutenant, was killed, as well as a number of the other principal officers. Our soldiers have got hold of many sabres mounted with gold. Night put an end to the pursuit ; but even during the night the Turks can make an obstinate defence. In this respect iis ont fait la plus belle retirade du monde. Nevertheless, the Janissaries in the trenches were forgotten, and during the night they were all cut to pieces. Such was the pride and the presumption of the Turks, that while one part of the army offered us battle another part assaulted the city. So they had enough men for both. I estimate them at 300,000 combatants. I counted about 100,000 tents. For two nights and a day any one who likes may take them, even the people of the city have come for their share of the booty. I am sure they will have enough to occupy them for eight days. The Turks left in their flight many prisoners, natives of the country, especially women, but they massacred all they could. Many of the women are only wounded, and may be set right again. I saw yesterday a child of four years of age whose head one of these cowards had cloven down to the mouth. A fine ostrich was found ; but the Vizier had had its head cut off, so that it should not fall into the hands of the Christians.
" It is impossible to describe all the refinement of
1 68 THE REIGN OE yOHN SOB IE SKI.
luxury which the Vizier had collected in his tents. There were baths, little gardens with fountains, even a parrot, which our soldiers pursued but could not capture. To-day I went to see the city ; it could not have held out longer than five days. It is all riddled with bullets ; those immense bastions perforated and half tumbling to pieces have a terrible aspect ; one would think they were great masses of rocks. All the soldiers did their duty ; they attribute the victor}^ to God and ourselves. At the moment when the enemy began to give way the greatest danger was at the spot where I found myself opposite to the Vizier. All the remaining cavalry of the army turned towards me on the right wing ; the centre and the left wing having already very little to do. I then saw the Elector of Bavaria, the Prince of Waldeck, and many other German princes ; they embraced me and kissed me. The soldiers, the foot and cavalry officers cried out : ^ A/i/ imser braver Konig ! '
" It is only this morning that I have seen the Prince of Lorraine and the Elector of Saxony ; we could not meet yesterday because they were at the extreme left. I had given them some squadrons of our hussars, commanded by the Marshal of the Court, Jerome Lubomirski. The commandant of the town, Stahremberg, also came to see me yesterday. All have embraced me, and called me their saviour. I have been in two churches, where the people kissed my hands, feet, and clothes ; others, who could only touch me at a distance, cried out, ' Ah ! let me kiss your victorious hands.' They seemed to wish to cry out vivat, but were prevented from fear of their
THE king's letter. i6g
officers and other superiors. Nevertheless a crowd of people shouted out a kind of vwat. I remarked that their superiors regarded this conduct with dis- favour, and so, after having dined with the com- mandant, I hastened to quit the town and to return to the camp. The crowd accompanied me almost to the gates. The Emperor has sent to let me know that he is a few miles off; but I have not much hope of meeting him. We have not lost many of our men in battles ; but*we must regret especially two persons, Modrzewski and young Potocki, whom I cannot men- tion without shedding tears. Among the strangers the Prince of Croz has been wounded, and a good many others have perished. The well-known Capu- chin, Marco Aviano, has never ceased kissing me and pressing me to his heart. He declares that he saw during the battle a white dove flying over the Chris- tian soldiery. This priest has now gone to Hungary to pursue the infidels. As soon as the Vizier saw that he could hold out no longer, he called his two sons to him, and having embraced them, said with tears to the Tatar Khan : * Save me, if you are able to do so.' The Khan answered : ' We know well the King of Poland ; it is impossible to resist him ; let us rather think how we can escape from this place.'
"They have just discovered a great quantity of ammunition. I do not know what they have left, with which they will be able to fire upon us. I have just received information that the enemy has aban- loned twenty cannons in his flight. I am about to get on horseback to go into Hungary, and I hope, as I said when I left you, to see you again at Stryc.
170 THE REIGN OE JOIIN SOBIESKI.
The princes of Bavaria and Saxony are ready tc go with me to the end of the world. We shall have to double our pace throughout the first two miles on account of the insupportable odours of the bodies of men, horses, and camels. I have written to the King of France ; I told him that it was to him especially, as to the most Christian king, that I ought to make my report about the battle gained and the safety of Christendom. Noire Fanfan (the young Prince James) is brave in the highest degree."
Such is the account given in one of the king's letters ; we have thought our readers would pardon its discursiveness and repetitions, on account of this interesting personal glimpse of a very remarkable man. These letters were accidentally discovered in 1823 among the papers of one of the ancestors of Count Raczinski, who had held an important diplo- matic post. That solemn farceur^ however, and highly important person, the most Christian king, was not at all pleased at the result of Sobieski's campaign. To weaken Austria he would have cheer- fully made an alliance with the Turk or any other barbarian. The extracts from the French State Papers, which have been recently published by the Academy of Cracow, show the constant efforts of Louis XIV. to attach Sobieski and his wife, for she had always to be taken into account, to a French alliance. The same year in which the great siege of Vienna took place there was an actual rupture between the French and Polish Governments. The French ambassador asked for an audience to take
SOBIESKIS TRIUMPH.
171
leave, whicli was granted on the 28th of May. But before he could get away his house at Warsaw was assailed by a party of cavaliers, who fired at the windows, without, however, injuring any one. We shall find Louis after the great victory doing all he could to minimise its importance, but he was unable to silence the voice of Europe. The fine ode of Fili- caja, the Italian poet, to Sobieski is but the echo of the universal voice of gratitude and praise. The petty struggles of the Grand Monarque in matters of etiquette, because Sobieski was only an elected king, we shall find repeated by the miserable Leopold.
Meanwhile the morning after the complete rout of the Turks, Sobieski and his troops entered the city, and divine service was performed in the cathedral. A sermon was preached upon the text : " There was a man sent from God whose name was John." In spite of his success the brave Pole was doomed to meet with neglect at the hands of the imbecile Austrian. The absurd stickling about etiquette of the Emperor is fully described in another of the letters, which the king addressed to his wife. He returned to Cracow on the 23rd of December.
In the following year Sobieski entered into a league offensive and defensive with the Emperor and the Republic of Venice against the Turks. While the Imperial troops were engaged upon the Danube and the Venetians in the Morea, the Poles were to attack the Osmanlis on the side of Wallachia. By a secret article of this treaty it was stipulated that the latter province and Moldavia should be absolutely subject to Sobieski, and that he might dispose of them to
172
THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKI.
his eldest son. The king entered Moldavia, and made himself master of it, but the difficulty was how to hold a country that had no fortified places. More- over, Sobieski was ill supported by the turbulent PoHsh nobility, who gave another proof of their utter want of patriotic feeling. They seemed to have no sense of union ; no realisation of anything beyond family interests. In the same year (1686) Wilanow, a pleasure-retreat of the king's, near Warsaw, was built, chiefly by the labours of the Turkish captives. It still remains an interesting monument of the former grandeur of the country.
COIN OF JOHN SOBIESKI.
The remaining years of the reign of Sobieski were embittered by constant disputes in the diets, several of which were broken off by the exercise of the liberum veto. He twice meditated abdicating, and he had no peace at home- owing to family dis- sensions. His wife, of whom he was so passionately fond, was a beautiful woman, but avaricious, despotic, and revengeful. Broken by disease, and harassed by the continued tumults round him, the great soldier expired on the 17th of June, 1696, at his favourite residence, Wilanow. Some account of his last moments has been given us by the Chancellor Zaluski,
DEATH-BED OF SOBIESKI.
173
Bishop of Plock. The queen had been alarmed by some symptoms in her husband's illness, and urged the bishop to go to the king, and, in an indirect way, to suggest that he should make some arrangement of his affairs. Zaluski, on entering the chamber of the sick man, found him in great pain, but endeavoured to give him comfort and some hopes of recovery. But Sobieski replied : " I see my approaching end ; my situation will be the same to-morrow as it is to-day ; all consolation is now too late." Then, sighing deeply, his Majesty asked him why he came so seldom to Court, and with what he had been so busy in his diocese. Zaluski, after expatiating upon the duties of his episcopal office, and the resources of literature, for our bishop was an author, artfully turned the discourse to what was the real object of his visit. " Lately," said he, " I have been employed in no very agreeable, yet a necessary, duty ; weighing the frail condition of human nature, remembering that, as Socrates and Plato, so all men must die ; and considering the dissensions which may arise among my relations after my decease, I have taken an inventory of my effects, and have disposed of them by will." The king, who saw the purport of his dis- course, interrupted him with a loud laugh, and exclaimed, in a quotation from Juvenal, O medici mediant contundite venani (meaning to insinuate that the bishop was mad). " What, my lord bishop ! you, whose judgment and good sense I have so long esteemed, do you make your will ? What a useless loss of time ! " Not discouraged by his remarks, the bishop persevered in suggesting, " that in justice to
1 74 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKI.
his family and country he ought without delay to regulate the disposal of his effects, and to declare his final wishes." " For God's sake," replied Sobieski, " do not suppose that any good thing can come out of this age ! when vice has increased to such an enormous degree as almost to exclude all hopes of forgiveness from the mercy of the Deity. Do you not see how great is the public iniquity, tumult, and violence ? All strive to blend good and evil without distinction : the morals of my subjects are perverted ; can you again restore them ? My orders are not attended to while I am alive ; can I expect to be obeyed when I am dead ? That man is happy who, with his own hand, disposes of his effects, which cannot be entrusted with security to his executors ; while they who bequeath them by will act absurdly by consigning to the care of others what is more secure in the hands of their nearest relations. Have not the regulations made by the kings my prede- cessors been despised after their deaths ? Where corruption universally prevails, judgment is obtained by money ; the voice of conscience is not heard, and reason and equity are no more ! " Then suddenly giving a ludicrous turn to the conversation, he ex- claimed, "What can you say to this, Mr. Will-maker? (' Quid ad hcsc, Doinine testamentarie ')."
Such were the last words of the great soldier, who saw from what his country was suffering. We may say, in the lines of the American poet —
" None beheld with elearer eye The pjague-spol o'er her spicading."
south' S DESCRIPTION.
175
The family of the Sobieskis is now extinct, and with him may be said to have sunk the glory of Poland. Dr. Robert South, the eminent divine who visited Poland as chaplain to an embassy, has left us an interesting account of the country. He thus describes Sobieski —
" The king is a very well spoken prince, very easy of access, and extreme civil, having most of the qualities requisite to form a complete gentleman. He is not only well versed in all military affairs, but likewise, through the means of a French education, very opulently stored with all polite and scholastic learning. Besides his own tongue, the Sclavonian, he understands the Latin, French, Italian, German, and Turkish languages ; he delights much in natural history, and in all the parts of physic. He is wont to reprimand the clergy for not admitting the modern philosophy, such as Le Grand's and Cartesius', into the universities and schools.
" As to what relates to his Majesty's person, he is a tall and corpulent prince, large-faced, and full eyes, and goes always in the same dress with his subjects, with his hair cut round about his ears like a monk, and wears a fur cap, but extraordinary rich with diamonds and jewels, large whiskers (i.e., moustaches), and no neck-cloth. A long robe hangs down to his heels in the fashion of a coat, and a waistcoat under that, of the same length, tied close about the waist with a girdle. He never wears any gloves, and this long coat is of strong scarlet cloth, lined in the winter with rich fur, but in summer only with silk. Instead of shoes he always wears both abroad and
176 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKL
at home Turkey leather boots, with very thin soles, and hollow, deep heels made of a blade of silver, bent hoop-wise into the form of a half-moon. He carries always a large scimitar by his side, the sheath equally flat and broad from the handle to the bottom, and curiously set with diamonds."
Owing to the continual wars in Sobieski's reign, the common people suffered much, and the recollec- tion of what they endured is embodied in the saying which was often heard in Poland during the last century of its independence —
" Za kiola Sasa, Jedz, pij, popuszczaj pasa ; A za krola Sobka, Nie bylo w polu snopka."
"In the time of the Saxon king, Eat, drink, and loosen your girdle ; But in the time of king Sobko There was not a sheaf in the fields."
The reader may be curious to know what was the ultimate fate of the beautiful and capricious Marie, to whom Sobieski addressed such uxurious epistles during the great siege, in each of which she was styled the only joy of his soul. She passed the first part of her widowhood at Rome with her father, the Marquis d'Arquiens. In that country she continued to reside till the year 17 14, when she retired to France. Louis XIV. gave her the castle of Blois as a residence, and she died there in 17 16 Her remains were taken to Warsaw, and from thence conveyed, together with those of her husband, in 1734 to Cracow, and interred in the cathedral.
CLEMENTINA SOBIESKA. 177
After the death of Sobicski, his youngest son, Constantine, Hved on his father's estate at Zolkiew. Alexander, who greatly resembled the king, died at Rome in the Convent of the Capuchins ; the eldest, James, who had married Jadwiga, the Princess of Neuburg, lived in Silesia, in the city of Olawa, given to him, according to a family compact, by his brother- in-law, the Emperor Leopold. The only daughter of the king, the Princess Teresa Cunigunda, was married to the Elector of Bavaria. James had a son who died, and three daughters of great personal beauty, Cazimiera, Carolina, and Clementina. By their mother, Jadwiga, or Hedwig, one of whose sisters was married to the Emperor Leopold, another to the Spanish king, Charles, a third to Pedro, of Portugal, the three grand-daughters of John III. of Poland were related to the principal royal families of Europe. To the little Court at Olawa there came in the year 17 18 an Irish gentleman named Murray with an important com- munication. This was none other than to demand the hand of the princess Clementina for James Stuart, the son of James II., of England, commonly called the Old Pretender. Although the Stuarts were in exile, they were regarded by a large part of Europe as the rightful heirs to the English throne, and their restora- tion was by no means despaired of by their adhe- rents. Still, circumstances had latterly little favoured the claims of the Pretender. George I. liad succeeded James Stuart's half-sister Anne, and he himself had been banished from France. He then put himself under the protection of the Papal Court. Clement XL, the Pontiff, was the godfather of the young
178 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKL
princess, and it was probably by his suggestion that the marriage was arranged. On the 24th of June, 17 1 8, the young prince wrote a letter to the parents of Clementina, demanding her hand, and also to the young lady herself. His offer was accepted. But opposition was to be feared from the European powers, especially since the Austrian Court was on friendly terms with the Hanoverian dynasty in England, and James Sobieski was a kind of dependent of Austria, and could do nothing without permission from Vienna. It was only by a carefully arranged disguise that the princess was able to reach Italy so that a marriage could take place at Montefiascone. A medal was struck to commemorate this event, one of the inscriptions upon which was : " Deceptis cus- todibus, A. 1 7 19." Clementina had two sons, one of whom was the celebrated Young Pretender ; an historian of that memorable insurrection has said with truth that there was a great deal of the spirit of Sobieski in the gallant and chivalrous young prince. Clementina died on the i8th of January, 1735, aged thirty-three. Two years later her father James, once a competitor for the Polish throne, who had shared the dangers and honours of the great siege with his father, died at Zolkiew. Three years afterwards, in F740, died the last of the three daughters. •
The princess Clementina, who had enjoyed the airy honours of titular queen of England, does not seem to have lived happily with her husband. She finally separated from him and her death is said to have been partly occasioned by her religious abstinence and too .severe mortifications. Her
THE FRENCH ABBE. I79
remains were interred with great pomp in St. Peter's, where there is a monument to her memory. We have already spoken of the eldest son, Charles Edward. As is well known, he died without heirs, and his brother Henry became a cardinal and sur- vived to the present century.
At the close of the reign of Stephen Batory, we halted for a time and surveyed the situation, because it was a turning-point in the history of Poland ; at that time it may be said with truth that its decadence begins. Its decadence it certainly is, but for one short period the gloom of the history is lit up by glorious achievements, and that period is the reign of Sobieski. Before commencing the dull gloom of the rule of the Saxon kings, we will take a final survey of the real old Poland, as it has been handed down to us in the curious narrative of a certain French Abbe, F. D. S., an unknown person, whose manuscript has been pre- served for some time in the Bibliotheque Mazarine, and was first published at Paris in 1858. In this curious work we shall be able to get glimpses both of the king and queen and the chief Polish customs and institutions. He sets out for Poland on the 30th of July, 1688. We will omit the preliminaries of his journey, and begin with his arrival in Silesia and his crossing the Polish frontier at Lublinist. " P>om this town to Warsaw," says our traveller, " I have not found a single town, which in France would desei-ve the name of a village, whether on account of its poverty, dirt, or coarseness, which seem essential ingredients in the Polish nation." He is attacked
l8o THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKL
by a terrific storm just as he nears the capital, Warsaw, at which he arrived at eight o'clock at night. The queen was then at Willanow [the Frenchman writes it phonetically Villanouf, and indeed most of the places in the same way, as the French are in the habit of doing with foreign names]. He was told that she rarely came to Warsaw except on the great festivals ; but he was met by one of her officers who had been told to take care of him, and is conducted to Willanow on the following day. The queen was going to mass, but gave him a hearty welcome ; the king he did not see till the evening, as he had gone hunting. On his return he welcomed M. I'Abbe and asked him many questions about France and the king his master. The Frenchman stayed at Willanow a month. He gives a complete description of Sobieski's favourite palace which was a tolerably handsome building, but only one story high ; the gardens were poor. There were some good orchards, however, a thing rare in Poland, he remarks, on account of the coldness of the climate. There were some tame wolves in the court of the castle, who were kept with the hunting dogs and went to the chase with them ; they agreed very well except that they always wished to have the mastery over the dogs ; there were also tame bears. The Abb^ tells us that the country was full of these animals, which were to be found in the forest, but fled at the approach of a human being. The houses in the village of Willanow were poorly built, and there was only a mean looking church, the priest of which received a paltry pittance.
THE FRENCH ABBE. l8l
He next describes Gora, whither he went with the Court. This town, he tells us, was built by a bishop of Kiew. At his death he bequeathed it to Prince James, the son of Sobieski. The castle occupied by the prince was fine, and situated near the Vistula. From Gora he went to Zolkiew, which had a fine church with two pictures representing the victories of Sobieski over the infidels. His father and mother were buried in the church in tombs of black and white marble with ornaments of gilded bronze. The castle belonging to the king was very fine, of semi- oriental architecture. There was a pleasant garden with a summer-house, which afforded a delightful view over the surrounding country. Here the king was in the habit of dining with his most familiar friends. Besides the buildings already mentioned there were a Dominican convent, a church of the Uniates, a monastery, and a handsome synagogue.
The traveller goes on to describe other towns ; of Warsaw he speaks very depreciatingly. He calls it a little city, surrounded with stone walls. He admires the king's castle, situated on the banks of the Vistula. The apartments had very rich tapestries, which were given to the Poles by Cromwell, according to our author's testimony. There was a room in the palace for acting comedies, the actors being Italians. Although the actual city of Warsaw was small, the suburbs were large.
The king has been already described in the account which we have borrowed from Dr. South ; we will therefore omit our author's description and take that which he has given us of the queen, who plays so
1 82 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKI.
large a part in Polish history. He thus writes : " This queen at present is about fifty years of age, she is still a very handsome woman, of moderate stature, neither fat nor thin, very fair and with a charming colour. She has black eyes, an aquiline nose, a small and red mouth with plenty of wit, she is very virtuous, good, liberal, magnificent ; excessively charitable to the monasteries, the hospitals, and the poor ; she is so captivating that when she looks upon any one with favour, it is impossible to resist her gaze ; but when she stands upon her dignity, she disconcerts the very haughtiest. Her greatest devotions are to the Holy Sacrament, the Holy Virgin, and St. Anthony of Padua. Her manner of passing her day is as follows : — She rises at ten o'clock in the morning, her book of hours is brought to her when in bed, and she there prays for a short time. Afterwards she receives the visits of her servants and the officers of her household, who converse with her and put any questions to her. At eleven o'clock she goes to mass in the chapel of the palace, after having partaken of refreshment. She then carefully dresses herself and sits down to dinner about two o'clock. When dinner is ended, she receives visits and sometimes plays at ombre [readers of Waller and Pope will remember how much this game used to be played in England] : in summer she goes for a walk about nine o'clock in the evening : one of her amusements is to let herself be drenched by the rain, although magnificently dressed. I remember," our Abbe continues, "that one day Monsieur le Comte de Teil, Counseiller du Parlement de Paris, who had been sent to Poland by
MARIE CASIMIRE. 1 83
the King of England (j-/V), being near the queen when it rained a great deal, she said to him, * Monsieur I'envoi, let us take a walk ; ' he, not daring to refuse her. He wore on that day a fine wig ; nevertheless he endured the rain for some time, and then said to her, ' Madam, 3/our Majesty is getting wet.' ' Say, rather,' answered the queen, ' that you are learning how to spoil your fine wig,' and she continued in the rain maliciously a full half hour. She is very sportive, although dignified and proud. It is she who governs the state ; the Royal Council being only composed of the king, the queen, and one of her women (!), who is generally no more than '\\q.x femme de cJiambre. At night the queen goes to the comedy, has supper about eleven o'clock, and retires to rest about two hours after midnight. Her suite consists of twelve ladies-in-waiting, all daughters of palatines, and the great lords of the kingdom. She speaks Polish better than the Poles themselves (!), and with so much elegance, if there is any in that language, that she is an object of admiration. She has been quite long enough in Poland to learn it, for she has been there since she was nine years of age ; I believe," continues the Abbe, "you know why she came into Poland so young and the progress of her fortunes."
"The Princess Louise Marie having been chosen wife of the King of Poland, the ambassadors from that power came to Paris to conduct this princess to her new home. Luckily Mdlle. d'Arquiens was known to the new queen. She pleased her very much by her beauty and spirit. She asked M. d' Arquiens, her father, if he would permit her to take
184 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKL
this young girl with her to Poland. He readily consented. When she arrived at Warsaw the queen made her one of her ladies-in-waiting; her great gifts of mind and person soon attracted the attention of the chief men of the kingdom." Our author then goes on to say how Sobieski fell in love with her, but was put off by Queen Marie Louise, who married her favourite to le prince des Amoches " [Zamojski — this is an astonishing corruption of the name]. After his death, however, Sobieski renewed his suite and was successful. M. I'Abbe winds up his account of the royal pair by saying that many of the Poles did not love their king and queen, the former for his avarice and the latter for her pride ; they treat them, however, he adds with great respect. Of Prince James, the eldest son, he says : " The first eight or ten years of his life gave much hope, but these expecta- tions have not been fulfilled ; he is short, very lean, ugly in face, hunch-backed. He is effeminate, although he knows his military exercises perfectly. Besides he knows a good deal of divinity, philosophy, and history, is very skilful in dancing, and sings tolerably. He leads a life but little in accordance with his rank. He is only allowed a very small retinue and very little money, but dresses handsomely in the French style. His fine dress he owes to his mother, who is very fond of him. At one time the king wished to have him sit beside him under his canopy at the diet, but the palatines and the senators would not permit it, so that he was obliged to retire with shame, and has never appeared there since. The Abbe in conclusion says the Prince that the general
MADAME ROY ALE. 185
opinion is that he will not succeed his father, because he is unpopular and being poor cannot entertain."
M. I'Abbe now describes the princess. " This prin- cess, who is called Madame Royale, takes precedence of her two younger brothers, Alexander and Con- stantine, as is the custom of the country. She is now fourteen years of age ; small, and will never be of good stature ; fat, but rather pretty. She has plenty of sense, sings nicely, speaks Latin to perfection, and French also. She is proud, and loves to thwart those who do not please her. She has a great dislike to the French nation, so that she once said to me, ' M. I'Abbe, I like you very well, but I should like you better if you were not a French- man.' She is passionately fond of the king her father, and the king loves her also, and cannot bear her long out of his sight. If they allowed this young princess to follow her own inclinations, she would be dressed in the Polish fashion, as she has a great dislike to the French style. She dresses very hand- somely. Her governess is the wife of a palatine, and she has a suite of four ladies-in-waiting and some attendants."
We shall omit his descriptions of the other two princes and borrow some of his remarks on Polish institutions.
Of the senate he says : " It is composed of the king, the bishops, the palatines, the senators, the castellans, and the nuntii. They sit in arm-chairs on each side of the king according to their rank and dignity: those of the crown {korond) on the right, and the Lithuanians on the left. The nuntii are
1 86 THE REIGN OF ^OHN SOBIESKI.
behind, seated on benches covered with Turkey carpets."
The Abbe was witness of an instance of the exercise of the liberum veto, which he calls " itne fort mecJiante politique.'' " The day on which the diet was to close, being Friday before Palm Sunday, the assembly continued in session till two hours after midnight, which was extraordinary ; for they had resolved several years previously that no lights should be brought into the senate, and that they should retire at the close of each day. As this was the last day of the diet, twelve pages holding torches in their hands entered the hall of the senate. A nuntius from Lithuania, gained over by the Imperialists [i.e., the German Court], with the view of breaking up the diet, rose, and after having made many objections, had the rashness and boldness to abuse the king at great length calling him a miser and unfit to rule. A bishop, friendly to the king, who sat near the nuntius, arose and demanded from the senate punish- ment for the insults offered to his Majesty. The nuntius thereupon struck the bishop violently in the stomach with his elbow, crying out that he was fitter to live in an alley than to be seated in an episcopal chair, and finally half drew his sabre from its sheath. The king, apprehending a riot, rose from the throne, took his sabre in his hand, and called out to his soldiers and guards, who entered in great number. The senate at this time appeared more like an assembly of rioters than a body of dignified senators and palatines. In the midst of this tumult the nuntius, who had been the aggressor, declared the
THE POLISH NOBLES. I87
diet at an end, and insisted that whatever was determined upon would be null and void. At the same time, trusting to the darkness, he made his escape unperceived from the assembly. Seeing that he had gone out, several ran after him, but he had ordered his servants to have a boat in readiness so that he might cross as quickly as possible to the other side of the Vistula. Thus an end was put to the proceedings of that diet. All the churches in War- saw were laid under an interdict on Saturday in consequence of the insult offered to a bishop. This interdict was removed early on Palm Sunday, so as not to prevent the ceremonies of Holy Week."
Of the nobility of Poland our author tells us that they had power of life and death over their serfs, so that they could put them to death whenever they pleased. He also narrates some scandalous stories of their treatment of the peasant women on their domains.
The chief faults he finds with the Polish nation are a general inclination to avarice, and the want of any proper administration of justice throughout the king- dom. The tribunals were everywhere corrupt.
The nobles were splendid in their dresses, as we have already seen from the accounts of the gorgeous embassies which they sent to France. They shaved their heads with the exception of a tuft on the top ; they did not wear beards, but long and thick moustaches, which almost entirely covered their mouths. The ladies were dressed in the French style. If one of them left her house to go to church or to pay a visit at but a distance of twenty paces,
l88 THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKI.
she always went in a carriage drawn by six horses. The peasants were obliged to work five days a week on their masters' estates ; if - they neglected this corve^e they were liable to personal chastisement.
Of their marriage ceremonies the Abbe tells us that they were splendid, and lasted generally three days. He was present on one occasion when one of the ladies-in-waiting to the queen was married to a palatine. He also describes the pomp of their funerals. Here again scenes of great disorder fre- quently occurred. Towards the conclusion of the funeral of a Prince Radziwill three cavaliers entered the church one after the other. The first carried the sabre of the deceased, the second his javelin, and the third his lance. They rode into the church at full speed, and broke the weapons which they brought against the sides of the bier. The last of these riders, who carried the lance, after having broken it against his master's grave, let himself fall gently from his horse as if he were dead ; at the same time the priests seized his horse as a perquisite, and the rider was obliged to redeem it. Many pieces of money were then thrown on the ground : every- body hastened to pick them up and get a share. This very unecclesiastical ceremony caused such tumult that several bishops, priests, and noblemen were thrown to the ground. Confusion reigned supreme. But when all the ceremony was concluded the ecclesiastics who had been engaged in it had a great feast, at which Hungarian wine flowed copiously.
With these remarks on some Polish domestic cere- monies we leave our anonymous traveller. In cor-
igo THE REIGN OF yOHN SOBIESKI.
roboration of his observations on the diet, it may be well to add the very sensible reflections of Bernard Connor, his contemporary (ii. 105). "Certainly there is no assembly in Europe more subject to disorders, more distracted by cabals and factions, and, in fine, more corrupted by bribery and base practices, which is the reason that the Diet of Poland seldom con- cludes upon what they sit and deliberate about, though it should be the greatest importance imagin- able. All these intrigues and mismanagements are generally fomented by the two powerful factions of the Houses of Austria and Bourbon. Every one knows the great advantages the emperors have had, when they have maintained a good correspondence or confederation with the Poles against their common enemy the Turks and Tatars. And on the other side, it is the French interest to prevent and oppose such correspondence and endeavour to render all means ineffectual which might otherwise favour the Emperor to enlarge his dominions. Hereupon the Poles are so weak-sighted that they never reflect that neither the Emperor nor the French king have any kindness for them, but only make use of them as instruments the better to accomplish their designs. There is nothing that can promote or favour foreign factions more than the unlimited prerogatives of each member of the diet ; for the king, senators, and deputies have all equal voices and equal power in their affirmative or negative votes ; and affairs are not concluded or agreed upon by plurality of voices, but universal con- sent of all the three orders, and the free approbation of every member of the diet in particular ; so that if
THE POLISH DIET. IQI
but one person only, who has a lawful vote, thinks fit to refuse his consent to what all the rest have agreed to, he alone can interrupt their proceedings and annihilate their suffrages. Nay, what is yet more extravagant, if, for example, there were thirty articles or bills to pass, and they all unanimously agreed to nine and twenty, yet if but one deputy disapproved of the thirtieth, not only that, but also the other nine and twenty are void and of no force, and this because all the articles at first proposed have not passed."
Connor bears ample testimony to the efforts made by the French and Austrians to direct the policy of the Republic, each weakening them for their own ends and using them as a means to carry out their mutual hostilities. In fact, both the French and Austrians had a number of the corrupt Polish nobles in their pay. We have already found the Opalinskis and the Morsztyns, and they were typical persons. Connor further quaintly illustrates the disgraceful scene which the Abbe witnessed in the diet. " Every member of the diet, after having obtained leave of their marshal, who can only stop their mouths, has a right to speak and harangue there as long as he pleases ; nay, can say what he will, for they often abuse one another and affront their king to his face, branding him with the infamous titles of perjured, unjust, and the like. They often likewise threaten him and his children when perhaps they have the least reason. The occasion of this is generally in that they come drunk into the diet, and consequently talk only as the spirit moves, either good or bad. Nay, you shall have
192
THE REIGN OF JOHN SOBIESKI.
some of these fuddle-caps talk nonsense for two or three hours together, trespassing on the patience of the soberer sort with a railing, carping, injurious, and ill-digested discourse without anybody's ever daring to interrupt them, though they spin it out never so long ; for if the marshal himself should then presume to bid them hold their tongues they would infallibly dissolve the diet by protesting against the proceed- ings thereof, so that the prudenter way is always to hear them out, and moreover to show no dislike to the impertinent speeches they have made."
X.
THE DECLINE OF POLAND— THE SAXON KINGS.
(1698-1763.)
Much as Poland had already suffered, she had had gleams of grandeur and dignity, which had relieved the gloomier pages of her history ; she now entered upon a period of decay, which was only ended by the complete annihilation of her independence.
The eldest son of Sobieski, James, who has already been mentioned as being present with his father in the glorious campaign of 1683, put himself forward as a candidate for the vacant throne ; but, according to some authorities, his mother did all she could to prevent his election, having conceived a dislike to him. At one time he seemed to have a large party in his favour, but it gradually dwindled, and the real contest lay between the Prince of Conti, a nephew of Louis XIV., and Frederick Augustus, the Elector of Saxony. Frederick was elected ; in order to qualify for the Polish throne, he had already abjured Protes- tantism, and his descendants have remained Roman Catholics to this day. In 1699, by the treaty of Carlo witz, the Sultan consented to restore Kaminiec
14 ^93
AUCJUSTUS II.
CHARLES XII. T95
and all that part of PodoHa and the Ukraine which had been taken from King Michael ; by this settle- ment the new sovereign gained some favour among his subjects, but the Elector of Brandenburg got possession of Elbing as a guarantee for 200,000 thalers, which he declared were owing to him from the Republic. This able ruler became more than ever a formidable adversary of Poland on succeed- ing a short time afterwards in getting himself recognised as king of Prussia.
The country at this time was rent by the rival factions of the Oginskis and Sapiehas, who carried on open war with each other. The king without the consent of the diet made a secret treaty with Peter, the Tsar of Russia, with the view of wresting Livonia and Ingria from the Swedes. But they found a vigorous adversary in the young Swedish king, Charles XII., who was destined to make Europe resound with his exploits. The Russian Tsar was defeated at Narva in 1700 and both Cracow and Warsaw were taken by the Swedes, the former after the victory of Kliszow in 1702. Charles now established his headquarters at Heilsberg in Warmia, and declared the throne of Poland vacant. At his dictation Stanislaus Leszczynski, the palatine of Posen, was elected king. Stanislaus had been sent to Heilsberg while Charles was there, in order to ascertain the views of the conqueror, who by a series of brilliant successes had all Poland at his feet. The Pole spoke so sensibly about the condition of affairs that the Swedish king was charmed, and said when he had left his presence, " I never saw a
ig6 THE DECLINE OF POLAND.
man more fitted to conciliate all parties ; he shall always be my friend." Stanislaus was at this time about twenty-seven years of age, having been born at Lemberg in 1677; his father Raphael Leszczynski had been grand treasurer of the country. The young Stanislaus travelled some time in the west of Europe, and had returned to Poland on the death of Sobieski in 1696. He presided at the diet which elected Augustus II., and became palatine of Posen in 1703. But to return to the embassy. When Stanislaus came back from seeing Charles he was thanked by the confederation of Warsaw for the favourable con- ditions which he had obtained, and they proceeded to elect another king, setting aside Augustus alto- gether. There were three new candidates, the prince of Conti, and the palatines Radziwill and Lubomirski. Charles XII. was eager that Stanislaus should be appointed, and when Cardinal Radziejowski endea- voured to alter his determination, the Swedish king asked, " What have you got to say against Stanislaus ? " " Sire," replied the ecclesiastic, " he is too young." " But he is about my own age," replied the king, turning his back on the prelate. At the diet held on the 1 2th of July, an overwhelming majority elected Stanislaus. Charles XII. sent on the same day a brilliant embassy to the new king, and gave him some soldiers to help him in supporting his claim. For the country was now divided into two factions, that of Augustus II. supported by the Tsar, and Stanis- laus by Charles. The next move of the Swedish king was to occupy Lemberg, and while he was busy with his military operations there, Augustus marched
I
TREATY OF ALTRANSTADT. iQy
on the capital and tried to seize his rival. Stanislaus had only just time to send his family to Posen. On this occasion his infant daughter aged one year was nearly lost ; the child was abandoned by its nurse in the confusion, and afterwards found in a stable. This was the daughter who as wife of Louis XV. was destined to become queen of France.
Stanislaus now joined Charles at Lemberg, and the two forced Augustus to quit successively Warsaw and Cracow and to take refuge at Dresden. On the 27th of July, 1705, the Diet of Warsaw formally declared the deposition of Augustus, and on the 4th of October the new king and his wife Catherine Opalinska were consecrated. Charles XII. was present incogiiito at the ceremony, in a reserved seat in the cathedral.
Augustus II. now secretly visited Lithuania, where he had an interview with the Tsar Peter. On ascer- taining this meeting Charles and Stanislaus renewed the campaign, and at first were successful against the Russians. Charles XII., wishing to inflict a blow upon Augustus in his hereditary states, invaded Saxony and established his headquarters at Altran- stadt.
Augustus was now forced to sign the humiliating treaty called after this place (Sept. 24, 1706), by which he renounced the Polish crown and recognised Stanis- laus as king ; he was also at the same time compelled to surrender the unfortunate Patkul to the vengeance of Charles. The story of this Livonian nobleman is well known. He had presented a petition of the states of that province to the father of the Swedish king, who meditated arresting him for treason. Warned
igS THE DECLINE OF POLAND.
in time, Patkul succeeded in escaping from the clutches of Charles XL, and took refuge at the court of Augus- tus, whom he had endeavoured to persuade to make himself master of Livonia. Augustus had attempted to arrange the escape of Patkul from Konigstein Castle, where he was confined in order to evade the demand of Charles, but owing to the hesitation of Patkul he was seized and tried by court-martial at Casimir. There he continued a prisoner for some months, and was finally broken on the wheel, under circumstances of the most revolting cruelty, on the 30th of September, 1707. An account of his last moments has been handed down by a Lutheran pastor who attended him at the time of his execution. In spite, however, of his temporary success Stanis- laus was not to be allowed to reign in peace ; in the year after the treaty (1707), at a meeting at Lemberg the abdication of Augustus was declared null and void. The Poles could not forget that Stanislaus had been appointed by foreign influence. The plague now raged in the country, and great numbers of the inhabitants were carried off at Danzig and Warsaw. Peter now invaded Poland, and saw himself obliged to retire and gather up his strength to meet his rival, who entered Russian territory with a large army. The battle of Poltava in 1709, by which the Swedes were crushed, was fatal to the cause of Stanislaus. Charles had been allured to invade Peter's dominions by the hetman Mazeppa, who had promised him his co-operation. The events of the war belong rather to Russian than Polish history. Although Mazeppa had received much kindness from Peter, and had
CHARLES XIL AT BENDER. I99
made him the most lavish promises of fidelity, he had for a long time been meditating treason. The elderly hetman was in reality in love with the daughter of Kochubei a Malo-Russian, and this perhaps retarded his movements. Some of his love-letters have been preserved.
Augustus now tore up the treaty of Altranstadt and announced by a manifesto (Aug. S, 1709), that he was about to resume the Polish crown. Stanis- laus saw himself obliged to follow the Swedes into Pomerania, from whence he passed into Sweden to await the result of the negotiations begun on the conclusion of peace. His reign thus lasted only four years, 1 704-1 709. His abdication was the condition preliminary to every arrangement ; he accordingly departed for Turkey to join Charles XH., but he was recognised by the hospodar of Moldavia (Feb. 17 13), arrested and sent prisoner to Bender. Count Ponia- towski laboured to assist the two kings ; he succeeded in persuading the Sultan to take arms against Peter and Augustus. It was settled in the divan that 80,000 men should be given to Stanislaus to bring him back into his dominions, that he should open the campaign, and that Charles should follow him at the head of an army more numerous still. Stanislaus accompanied by several Poles actually set out on the 8th to take the command of these troops at Chocim. Suddenly, however, the Sultan changed his intentions, and persuaded by his council who, according to some writers, were under the influence of Russian bribes, sent an order to bring Stanislaus back to Bender.
200 THE DECLINE OF POLAND.
When Charles was preparing to quit Turkey, he could -not induce Stanislaus to accompany him in the new expeditions which he was planning. " No," said Stanislaus, " my resolution is taken, and you will never see me draw the sword for the restoration of my crown." ** Well," replied Charles, " I will draw it for you ; and in the meantime, before we make our triumphant entry into Warsaw, I give you my princi- pality of Deux Fonts, with its revenues." Stanislaus was set at liberty on the 23rd of May, 1714 ; he went in disguise through Hungary, Austria, and Germany, and took possession of his little state. Thither he was soon followed by his family. But even there he was not allowed to live in peace. The popularity which he enjoyed among his countrymen aroused fears in his enemies — a plot was entered into for getting rid of him. On the 15th of August, 1716, he was fired at by some conspirators in ambuscade. Three of the assassins were seized, among them a Saxon officer named Lacroix, who was chief of the band. They would have been killed on the spot had not the king saved them by crying out, " I pardon you, that you may live to become better men ! " Augustus protested that he knew nothing of this conspiracy, but he was probably privy to it, and his minister, Fleming, is supposed to have instigated it.
But the hopes of the king were completely destroyed by the death of Charles in September, 17 18. He was obliged to surrender Deux Fonts, which was claimed by the heir, Count Gustavus. Stanislaus then asked for an asylum in France, and was allowed to go to Weissenburg in Alsace (January, 1720), with a small
COURLAND. 20i
pension, which was, however, irregularly paid. Augustus II. complained of this retreat being allowed to his rival, but the French Court paid no attention to his objections. Here another attempt was made upon his life by means of poisoned tobacco. The contriver of this outrage was never discovered. The Polish ex-king lived in obscurity in his humble retreat till his daughter married Louis XV. (September 5, 1725) by means of a set of intrigues hardly unravelled at the present time, but of which the discussion more properly belongs to the history of France. Stanislaus then had a better residence assigned him, at first the castle of Chambord, and then Meudon. We must here leave him, but shall shortly hear of him again.
In the time of Augustus the affairs of Courland also occupied a prominent place. The duchy had been held by its dukes under the suzerainty of Poland from the year 1561. Peter the Great married his niece Anne, daughter of his brother Ivan, to Frederick William, duke of the province. This prince, however, died of excessive drinking in 171 1. The Tsar, being all powerful, was able to exclude the brother of Frederick from the succession, and contrived that the administration of the country should be carried on in the name of the Grand Duchess. And thus Courland fell more and more under the influence of Russia, and was practically lost to Poland. This was still more the case when Anne became Empress of Russia. In 1737, by her influence, Biren was elected duke, but in 1 740 he was sent to Siberia. The race of the Kettlers, the original dukes, was now extinct. In the sixteenth century the Poles had recognised the secularisation
202 THE DECLINE OP POLAND.
of the ecclesiastical property in Courland, and had promised to protect Gotthold Kettler as feudatory of Poland on condition that in case of the extinction of the house of Kettler, the duchy should be incorporated with Poland, and divided into palatinates. The Courlanders had offered their duchy to Maurice of Saxony, but the Russians opposed the arrangement, although he was willing to marry the widowed Anne. The election of Biren had been sanctioned by Augustus III., but the Russians held the duchy during his captivity, and he was restored when Catherine came to the throne in 1762. Biren died in 1772, and was succeeded by his son Peter, a weak and incapable ruler. The Courlanders in 1795 formally surrendered their duchy to the Russian Empress, since which time it has been incorporated with that Empire.
We must now turn to consider the condition of the Dissidents.
Liberty of opinion in religious matters did not make much progress in Poland. But perhaps it is hard to blame her when the neighbouring powers exhibited such want of toleration. We must re- member that about this time John Locke had begun to preach it in England. In the reign of John Sobieski (1689), ^ noble of Lithuania, Casimir Lyszczynski, had been cruelly put to death on a frivolous charge of blasphemy. He was sentenced to have his tongue cut out and then to be beheaded and burnt. This atrocious sentence was carried out in spite of the opposition of the king. Bishop Zaluski, whose letters furnish such valuable materials for the his- torical student, has recorded the execution with
THE DISSIDENTS. 203
manifest satisfaction. As regards Frederick Augustus, although tolerant himself, he allowed the clergy to carry out their laws against heresy, because he was anxious to gain their support.
The hopes which the Protestants had formed on the election of Stanislaus Leszczynski, were doomed to disappointment when the rule of that amiable king was terminated by the battle of Poltava. In 171 5 occurred the case of Sigismund Unruh, a Protestant, who, for some trifling notes which he had made in a book, was informed against before the tribunal of Piotrkow, and accused of having blasphemed the Holy Catholic Church. For this offence he was sentenced to have his tongue torn out, his right hand cut off, and his body (after beheading) to be burnt, together with his manuscript, but by a timely flight he escaped the execution of the sentence, which was afterwards annulled, and his property restored to him.
In the year 1724 occurred the affair of Thorn, which sent a thrill of horror throughout Europe, and was the subject of many polemical pamphlets. A riot occurred between some Jesuit students and Protestants in that city, and the latter were accused of sacrilege. In consequence of this, Rosner, the president of the city council, Zernicke, the vice-presi- dent, and several other leading citizens, were sentenced to be executed. Prince Lubomirski, with one hun- dred and fifty horsemen, arrived at Thorn to see the sentence carried out. On the 7th of December, the aged Rosner was beheaded ; Zernicke, the vice-presi- dent, contrived to procure a pardon, but the rest, with the exception of one who embraced Romanism, were
204 THE DECLINE OF POLAND.
executed. This sanguinary affair was not without its effects upon the rest of Europe. The Protestant powers — Great Britain, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, and Hol- land— assumed an indignant attitude, and the Poles were especially annoyed by the speech of the English minister at Ratisbon. In 173 1 the ambassador from Great Britain at the Polish Court presented a memorial to the king, enumerating the various oppressions to which the Protestants were exposed in Poland, and concluding with a threat of retaliation on the Roman Catholics in England and the other Protestant States. But all the efforts were fruitless, and even increased the sufferings of the unfortunate Dissidents. But the day of reckoning was at hand. Like the French noblesse, on the eve of the Revolution, the infatuated Polish magnates did not see that they were digging the grave of their country. In 1733 a law was passed by which the Dissidents were declared incapable of holding any office or enjoying any dignity. We must remember, however, that the English Roman Catholics were hardly in a more favourable position, and that the Protestants in France were oppressed.
On the 1st of January that year, the worthless king died ; a man of mean capacity, and notorious for his private vices. He had married Christina, Mar- gravine of Baireuth, who died in 1727. In his reign Poland sank considerably in political dignity, material prosperity, and eminence in literature and arts. Many of the Poles now wished to elect again to the throne Stanislaus Leszczynski, who was living in Lorraine. When the proposal was made to him that he should quit his comfortable residence, he was at first very
yOURNEY OF STANISLAUS. 205
much opposed to it, in spite of the material assistance which he was promised by Louis XV. " I know the Poles well," said Stanislaus. " I am sure that they will appoint me, but I am also sure that they will not support me ; in short, that I shall soon find my- self near to my enemies and far from friends." To get to Poland was no easy matter. There was a Russian fleet in the Baltic, and Austria and Prussia gave orders to stop his passage through their territories. We see what active foes Poland had on her borders, and how by her continual dissensions she played into their hands. They were always ready to impede her when she was making efforts to ameliorate her position, as she would certainly have done by the election of so good and wise a man as Stanislaus. To make the journey of the Polish king secure, a stratagem was planned. A report was circulated in France that he was about to take the command of a fleet fitted out on the coast of Brittany and ready to sail to Danzig. On the 20th of August, 1733, Stanislaus took formal leave of the French royal family, and went to Berry, to visit Cardinal Bissy. There the Chevalier de Thianges, who bore some likeness to Stanislaus, put on a carefully arranged costume, and took the route to Brest. He caused himself to be announced as the king, but took care only to travel by night. On the 26th of August, the day on which the diet opened, while the false Stanislaus embarked amid the roar of cannon, the real one got into a post-chaise and hurried off to Poland in the company of the Chevalier d'Andelot. He passed through Germany without any obstacle, and arrived at Warsaw during the night of
206 THE DECLINE OF POLAND.
the 8th of September. On the loth he appeared in pubhc, and his presence caused a general rejoicing. On the nth he was proclaimed king. There were sixty thousand voices for his election, and only thirteen against. The disaffected portion retired to Praga, the suburb of Warsaw, where they awaited the approach of Russian troops in order to proclaim Augustus III., the son of the late king. As the Polish army had been reduced to eight thousand men, it was unable to defend the capital, and the only course open to Stanislaus was to retire to the fortress of Danzig, and there to await the succours which France had promised. Five months after the Polish king had entered the town, the Russians under their general, Munich, began the siege. When the French troops arrived they consisted of only i,6oo men, under the command of Count Pleto. They and the inhabitants were prepared to defend the place with spirit, but a Russian fleet now made its appear- ance, and blockading all the neighbouring ports, hastened the catastrophe. Stanislaus, giving up all hope, advised the authorities to surrender the town, and quitted the place in the garb of a peasant on the 27th of June. He has himself left an account of his marvellous escape, which in point of interest may almost be compared with those of Charles II. after Worcester, or the young Pretender after Culloden. In his flight he was assisted by peasants, and found one of them at least as free from mercenary motives as Charles Stuart did his highland attendants. Let us hear the very words of Stanislaus : " We were about to land, when, taking my host aside and affec-
ESCAPE OF STANISLAUS. 207
tionately thanking him for all he had done for me, I put into his hand as many ducats drawn from my pocket as mine could hold. The honest peasant, surprised and ashamed, drew back and endeavoured to escape me. ' No, no,' said I, ' it is in vain ; you must receive this present.' As I urged him more strongly, and as he renewed his attempts to escape, the others supposed that I was quarrelling with him, and advanced to appease me. Perceiving this movement on their part, he hastily said that to satisfy me he would accept two ducats, which he would always keep as a remembrance of the happiness he had had in knowing me. This noble disinterestedness charmed me the more, as I had no reason to expect it from a man in his condition. He took two ducats from my hand, but made such grimaces that I cannot express them."
With considerable difficulty Stanislaus passed through the lines of Cossacks, crossed the Vistula, and by a fisherman was ferried over the Nogat, and finally landed at Konigsberg, where he might hope for more security than when surrounded by the Russian armies. Thence he leisurely proceeded to Lorraine. In 1735 the Treaty of Vienna was con- cluded between France and the German Empire, by which Stanislaus abdicated the Polish throne, but was to have the title of king during his life. He was to enjoy possession of the duchies of Lorraine and Bar, which after his death were to be permanently united to France. On the 28th of June, 1735, he signed the decree of his abdication at Konigsberg, and on the 3rd of April, 1737, he was formally put in possession
208 THE DECLINE OF POLAND.
of his new territories. He made himself very popular among his subjects, so that he earned the title of Stanislaus the Benevolent. He greatly embellished the cities of Nancy and Luneville, founded colleges, and reduced the taxation of the duchies. In 1758 the Royal Academy of Nancy was established. Stanislaus corresponded with several sovereigns, and, among literary men, with Voltaire, Rousseau, Montes- quieu, and Boufiflers. It was a piece of singular ill- fortune for Poland to have been deprived of the services of so excellent a king.
Up to 1766, when he had reached the age of eighty- nine, he had enjoyed excellent health ; but on the 5th of February of that year his dressing-gown acci- dentally caught fire. He was at length extricated from his dangerous situation, but died on the 23rd of the same month, and was buried near his wife at Nancy. Two years afterwards his daughter, Mary Leszczynska, the French queen, died, and her heart was buried in her father's vault. In 1831 a statue was erected to this excellent man at Nancy. His name stands out amongst the worthless Polish sovereigns of the eighteenth century, and we have therefore allowed more space for a description of his career.
At Nancy appeared his remarkable work, G/os Wohiy Wolnosc UbezpieczaJQcy (" A Free Voice guaran- teeing Freedom "), in which he unhesitatingly spoke of the errors of the Polish constitution, and gave advice for their rectification. In a curious letter prcr served in Hearne's " Collectanea " (Doble's ed., ii. 43) we get a glimpse of him in juxtaposition with his friend and protector, Charles, who is more fully
I
CHARLES XII. 209
described. Of the Swedish king, Lord Raby, the writer of the letter, says : " He wears a black crape cravat, but the cape of his coat, buttoned so close about it, that you cannot see whether he has any or no. His shirt and wristbands are commonly very dirty : for he wears no ruffles or gloves, but on horse- back. His hands are commonly of the same colour of [sic] his wristbands ; so that you can hardly dis- tinguish them. His hair is light brown, very greasy and very short, never combed but with his fingers. He sits upon any chair or stool he finds in the house, without any ceremony to dinner, and begins with a great piece of bread and butter, having stuck his napkin under his chin : then drinks with his mouth full out of a great silver, old-fashioned beaker small beer, which is his only liquor. At every meal he drinks about two English bottles full ; he then empties his beaker twice. Between every bit of meat he eats a piece of bread and butter, which he spreads with his thumb. He is never more than a quarter of an hour at dinner, eats like a horse, speaks not one word all the while. As soon as he rises, his life guards sit down at the same table to the same victuals. His bedchamber is a very dirty little room with bare walls ; no sheets nor canopy to his bed, but the same quilt that lies under him turns up over him, and so covers him. . . . His writing-table is of slit deal, with only a stick to support it, and instead of a standish a wooden thing with a sand-box of the same. . . . He has a fine gilt Bible by his bedside, the only thing that looks fine in his equipage. . . . But that my letter is too long already, I would give you some
15
210
THE DECLINE OF POLAND.
account of the Polish Court of King Stanislaus ; for being incognito only with a friend and one footman, and impossible to be known, I would take a tour to Leipsic, where I not only saw that king, but he very civilly came and spoke to me and my friend, seeing we were strangers. His Court has much a better air than that of his maker [i.e., Charles XII.], and his mother and wife were there, a couple of well-bred women, well dressed, and both spoke very good French. He is a tall handsome young man, with a great pair of whiskers [moustaches], in the Polish dress, but in-
COIN OF AUGUSTUS III.
clinable to be fat, and a little upon the dirty, as all the Poles are. . . ."
After our long digression upon Stanislaus we will now turn to the king who was appointed in his place. Augustus III., son of Augustus II., swore to the pacta conventa, and was crowned king at Warsaw in 1734. He married Maria Josefa, daughter of the Emperor Joseph I. She died in 1757. In 1736 a diet of pacification was held at Warsaw, which was followed by a general amnesty. Its terms have already been explained. The country was in a wretched condition ; the king was a coarse man, who led a life of indolence and pleasure. One of his chief
AUGUSTUS III. 21 i
amusements appears to have been to shoot at dogs from the windows of his palace. Like his -father, he could not speak a word of Polish, and he left every- thing to the management of his minister Brlihl. The country was flooded with false money, in the circula- tion of which the Jews were very active. The king, as Elector of Saxony, was mixed up with the Seven Years' War, but his Polish subjects were not dragged into it. The territory of the Republic was, however, frequently invaded by her neighbours, and Poland was called Karczma Zajezdna, the public inn : thus the Russians in one of their expeditions against the Turks marched unimpeded and without asking leave through Podolia and the Ukraine. Perhaps the only thing for which posterity can be grateful to Augustus III. is that he laid the foundations of the Dresden Picture Gallery. He died in that city on October 3, 1763, and was buried there. Poland had now thirty years more to exist as an independent nation.
XL
STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI — THE THREE PARTI- TIONS.
(1 764- 1 795.)
The following year, after stormy scenes in the diet, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatovvski was elected king, a man of refined manners, but a mere puppet in the hands of Russia, which power caused him to be appointed, as Warsaw was occupied by Russian troops. Coxe the traveller thus speaks of Stanislaus : " The .King of Poland is handsome in his person, with an expressive countenance, a dark com- plexion, Roman nose, and penetrating eye ; he is uncommonly pleasing in his address and manner, and possesses great sweetness of condescension, tempered with dignity."
The Empress of Russia was eager for the appoint- ment of Poniatowski, and was against any plan for continuing the royal power in the house of Saxony. In this she was heartily seconded by Frederick the Great, one of the most bitter and uncompromising enemies of the country. One of their reasons for wishing Poniatowski appointed is said to have been
/■y
STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS.
214 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKL
that they thought he would becom-2 a more complete tool in their hands. The brothers, Michael and Augustus Czartoryski, the descendants of a celebrated Lithuanian family, who were the uncles of the king, were possessed of great influence in Poland at this time, and used their opportunity to cause some im- portant reforms to be introduced into the government of the country. The system under which the great officials of the realm were independent of each other and of the king was abolished : ministers were now to be nominated by the sovereign, and to be responsible to the diet, and many other reforms were introduced. A few words must be added concerning this celebrated family, one of whose members was destined to play such a great part in the subsequent history of Poland. The two brothers were friendly to the patriotic move- ment called the Confederation of Bar, which may be said to have been the last great self-protecting effort of Poland. But they did not long survive the first partition of the country. Michael died in August, 1775 ; Augustus in 1782, leaving an only son, Adam Casimir, to whom Catherine wished to give the Polish throne, if it had not been accepted by Poniatowski. Prince Adam Casimir married in 1761 the Countess Isabella P^Ieming, daughter of a minister of Augustus II., and one of their sons was the celebrated Adam George Czartoryski, whom the Poles in the revolu- tion of 1830 elected their dictator. The journals of this illustrious man, who was brought up as a kind of hostage at the Russian Court, where he lived on familiar terms with Alexander, the son of Paul, both while he was Grand Duke, and afterwards when
THE CONFEDERATION OF BAR. 215
Emperor, have been edited by Mr. Gielgud. Count D(^bicki has also published an account of the famous sea4: of the family at Pulavvy, situated on the road between Warsaw and Sandomir. In this splendid residence were gathered together some of the most interesting historical and literary relics to be seen in all Poland. They have now found a resting-place in the fine Czartoryski Museum at Cracow, situated near the picturesque Florian Gate.
To return, however, to the election of Stanislaus Poniatowski. In the diet of 1764 he was chosen, and signed i\iQ pacta conventa. At the same time the liberinn veto was abolished, for it was felt everywhere that a radical change was necessary in the constitu- tion. Nothing, however, was done for the Dissidents. On the contrary, they were deprived of some of the privileges which they had hitherto enjoyed, such as the rights of possessing starosties and several other offices. They began to betake themselves to Russia for assistance, which she seemed disposed to offer.
In the year 1765 occurred the terrible massacres of the Roman Catholics and Jews by the Cossacks under Gonta — an outbreak said to have been fomented by Russian agents ; proof however of this accusation is wanting. In the year 1766 the liberinn veto was restored through the influence of the King of Prussia, who was very anxious that the Poles should not re- form themselves and so preserve their independence. In 1768 some patriotic noblemen, the chief of whom were Adam Krasinski, Bishop Kamienicki, Joseph Pulawski, Michael Krasinski, and Joachim Potocki, met at the little town of Bar in Podolia, and formed
/
2r6 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKL
what has been called the Convention of Bar, the object of whicli was to free the country from foreigners. They organised an army, and their military operations extended over a great part of Poland, but the Russian troops stationed round the capital prevented their junction with the regular forces of the Republic. Their number amounted to about eight thousand, and they seemed, unfortunately, to have all the old Polish animosity to the Dissidents. Their patriotic efforts proved a failure, and an attempt to carry off the king, perhaps assassinate him, on Nov. 3, 1771, headed by Lukawski, Strawenski, and Kosinski, who had been suborned for the purpose by Casimir Pulawski also failed. The details of this attempt are so strange, that perhaps they will be found interesting by our readers. The heart and soul of the plot was the Confederate Casimh* Pulawski, and indeed the Con- federates had never recognised the government of Stanislaus, probably from the contempt they felt for the weakness of his character. The conspirators, who carried it into execution, were about forty in number, but the men previously mentioned, were at the head. At Czestochowa they took an oath to Pulawski, either to deliver the king alive into his hands, or in case that was impossible, to put him to death. The three ringleaders and their assistants obtained admis- sion into Warsaw disguised as peasants, who had come to sell hay, and concealed their arms under the loads which they brought in their waggons.
On Sunday night, the 3rd of September, 1771, a few of these conspirators remained in the suburbs of the town, and the others repaired to the place of
PLOT AGAINST THE KING. 217
meeting, the street of the Capuchins, where the king was expected to pass about the hour in which he usually returned to the palace. He came on this occasion between nine and ten o'clock in a carriage with an aide-de-camp, and accompanied by fifteen or sixteen attendants. He was attacked by the con- spirators, who commanded the coachman to stop on pain of instant death. They fired several shots into the carriage, one of which passed through the body of a heyduc, or attendant, who endeavoured to defend his master from his assailants. Almost all the other persons who accompanied the king fled ; the aide-de- camp contrived to conceal himself Meanwhile the king opened the door of his carriage, trusting to escape in the dark. But he was seized by the con- spirators, one of whom discharged a pistol at him, and another cut him across the head with his sabre. They then laid hold of Stanislaus by the collar, and, mounting on horseback, dragged him along the ground between their horses at full gallop for nearly five hundred paces through the streets of Warsaw. Meantime all was confusion at the palace, where the attendants who had deserted their master had spread the alarm. The guards ran immediately to the spot, but only found the king's hat and travelling bag covered with blood. Meanwhile the conspirators were carrying off their prize, whom they set on horse- back as he could not follow them on foot, and then redoubled their speed for fear of being overtaken. When they had crossed the ditch of the city of Warsaw many of the confederates retired, probably to notify the success of their enterprise and the king's
2l8 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
arrival as their prisoner. Only seven remained with him, of whom Kosinski was the chief. The night was very dark ; they were ignorant of the way, and as the horses could not keep their legs they obliged his Majesty to follow them on foot with only one >shoe, the other having been lost in the mud. They continued to wander through the open fields, without following any certain path, and without getting any distance from Warsaw. They again mounted the king on horseback, one of them holding him on each side by the hand, and a third leading his horse by the bridle. They at last found themselves in the wood of Bielany, only a league distant from Warsaw. From the time when they had passed the ditch they fre- quently demanded of Kosinski, their chief, if it was not yet time to put the king to death.
Meanwhile some of the nobility following the track of the conspirators arrived at the place where Stanis- laus had passed the ditch. There they found his blood-stained overcoat, and concluded that he had been killed. The number of conspirators with the king now began to diminish ; on coming upon a Russian patrol four of them disappeared, leaving him with the other three, who compelled him to walk with them. A quarter of an hour afterwards they were challenged by another Russian guard. Two of the conspirators then fled, and the king remained alone with Kosinski, both on foot. Stanislaus, exhausted with fatigue, entreated his conductor to stop for a few moments, but Kosinski refused, and told him that beyond the wood they would find a carriage. They continued their walk till they came to the con-
PERILS OF STANISLAUS. 219
vent of Bielany. Here the king, perceiving that Kosinski was lost in thought, and wandered about ignorant of the road, said to him : " I see you do not know your way. Let me go into the convent, and do you provide for your own safety." " No," replied Kosinski, '■ I have sworn." They proceeded till they came to Mariemont, a small palace, not more than half a league from Warsaw. Here, at the king's renewed request, his captor allowed a pause. They sat down upon the ground, and the king employed the time in endeavouring to move the pity of Kosinski, and to induce him to permit his escape. Kosinski began to show signs of repentance. " But," said he, " if I should consent and re-conduct you to Warsaw, w4iat will be the consequence ? I shall be taken and executed." " I give you my word," answered the king, "that you shall suffer no harm; but if you doubt my promise escape while there is yet time. I can find my way to some place of security, and I will certainly direct your pursuers to take the contrary road to that which you have chosen." Kosinski was moved by the generosity of the king, and swore to protect him against any enemy, relying entirely on his generosity for pardon and security. They now made for a mill which was close by. Kosinski knocked, but no answer was given. The mill is described in a contemporary account as a wretched hovel, at a distance from any house. At last he broke a pane of glass and entreated shelter for a nobleman who had been plun- dered by robbers. The miller refused, believing them to be banditti. But at length the king pleading also,
220 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
they were admitted. When he had entered he at once wrote a note to General Coccei, colonel of the foot guards. It was verbatim as follows : " Par tine tspece de miracle je stiis saicve des mains des assassins. Je stiis ici au petit moidin de Mariemont. Venez an plutot me tirer d'ici. Je suis blesse, mais pas fort'' It was with the greatest difficulty, however, that the king could persuade any one to carry this note to Warsaw, as the people of the mill, imagining that he was a nobleman who had just been plundered by robbers, were afraid of falling in with the band.
On receiving the note Coccei instantly rode to the mill, followed by a detachment of the guards. He met Kosinski at the door with his sabre drawn, who admitted him as soon as he knew him. The king, overcome with fatigue, was sleeping on the ground, covered with- the miller's cloak. Great was the astonishment of the miller and his family on finding out who the guest was to whom they had given shelter. The king returned to Warsaw in General Coccei's carriage, and reached the palace about five in the morning. His wound proved not dangerous, and he soon recovered from the rough treatment to which he had been subjected.
Lukawski and Strawenski were after a trial decapi- tated ; according to a contemporary account they showed the greatest fortitude. The former resolutely refused to see the traitor Kosinski ; on the scaffold he made a short speech to the multitude, but ex- pressed no contrition whatever, nor did Strawenski. They probably considered that in carrying off the pusillanimous Stanislaus they were serving their
I
COUNT BEN low SKI. 251
country, and in Poland there was little of the divinity that "doth hedge a king." Kosinski was sent by Stanislaus out of Poland, and spent the rest of his life in Semigallia, in Courland, enjoying a pension. To the heyduc, who saved the king's life, a monument was erected. Such was the end of this strange con- spiracy, but the fates were preserving Stanislaus for even greater indignities — to survive as a pensioner the loss of his crown, and the annihilation of the independence of his country. It is impossible, how- ever, to justify the confederates in the matter, although we may sympathise with them in their patriotic struggles. They have to the present day remained the favourite subjects of Polish eulogy. The subse- quent fate of many of them was severe, as a large number of them spent the rest of their days in Siberia, or were interned in the eastern provinces of Russia. Some of them seemed to have assisted the robber chief Pugachev in his insurrection.
One of them was the strange adventurer, Count Beniovvski, the story of whose life has been drama- tised by Kotzebue, and forms the subject of a long poem by Slowacki. Although bearing a Slavonic name, Beniowski was born in Hungary. He joined the ranks of the confederates at an early stage, and was present in some actions. Being taken pri- soner by the Russians, he was sent to Siberia ; the Governor of Kamchatka, named Khilov, appears to have treated him with much kindness, and in order to have the means of lightening his captivity engaged him to teach French and German to his children. Beniowski abused this generosity by
222 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKL
winning the affections of the daughter of the governor named Afanasia, although he already had a wife. By her connivance he effected his escape with a large number of his companions. His subsequent adven- tures can only be briefly described. He succeeded in reaching the island of Formosa, and afterwards Macao, where the too confiding Afanasia died. Thence he proceeded to France, where he was em- ployed by the Government, to which he furnished some valuable information about Siberian matters. The French sent him with some adventurers to form a colony in the island of Madagascar, but the scheme was only partially successful. In 1783 he returned to France, and thence went to England and America, and afterwards again visited the island of Madagas- car, perhaps in the pay of the English ; at all events, we find him fighting against the French, and in a skirmish with them he was killed in that island in the year 1785.
Casimir Pulawski left Poland after the attempt on the king and went to America, where he joined the forces of the colonies against England, and was killed at the siege of Savannah.
The year 1772 was to witness the first dismember- ment of Poland, which had been agreed upon bet\Veen Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The idea is said to have originated with Frederick the Great, whose brother. Prince Henry, when he visited St. Petersburg, sounded Catherine on the subject. Prussia was eager to acquire the towns of Thorn and Danzig, and the lower basin of the Vistula, and the treatment of the Dissidents by the Poles had given an opportunity for
FIRST DISMEMBERMENT. 223
interference. By the first dismemberment Prussia took the palatinates of Marienburg, the Pomorze, or district adjoining the sea, and VVarmia (except Dan- zig and Thorn), and a part of Great Poland. Austria had Red Russia, or Galicia, with parts of Podolia and Little Poland, and Russia the palatinates of Mscislaw and Witepsk, with some other parts of palatinates situated on the Dnieper.
In 1773 a kind of constitution was drawn up for the Republic, but the mischievous liberiim veto was preserved in all its force, and in the following year the privileges which had been granted to the Dissi- dents since 1768 were diminished.
It was in the year 1778 that Coxe, the historian, visited the country, of which he has left such a graphic description. It is from his interesting narra- tive that we arc able to gain a picture of the Poland of the eighteenth century. The Poles, in a diet held at Grodno in 1778, were obliged to acquiesce in this plundering of their country. A period of some years of comparative tranquillity now supervened. A better system of education was introduced, and the order of Jesuits was suppressed. In 1788 a remarkable diet was opened which lasted for the unprecedented period of four years. The condition of the burghers and peasants was ameliorated ; the liberiim veto was defi- nitely suppressed and the throne declared hereditary. The Elector of Saxony, son of Augustus III., was appointed the successor of Stanislaus. The Roman Catholic was declared to be the dominant religion, but the Dissidents were to be tolerated. The burghers were to send deputies to the diet on the
224 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
same footing as the nobles. This was a privilege which had never been conceded before, and the absence of it was one of the chief causes why politi- cal life was so dwarfed in the countr}^ The peasants were not yet emancipated, but their condition was improved. In order to explain more fully the new constitution which was promulgated, we shall shortly give a summary of its leading enactments. Many writers have told of the universal enthusiasm when the Bill was passed, and the procession of King Stanislaus and the members of the parliament to the cathedral of Cracow has formed the subject of a splendid picture by the celebrated artist Matejko. The party of reform was led by Ignatius Potocki, a priest named Koll^taj, and the Czartoryskis. But adverse elements were at work. There were many malcontents among the nobles, who did not like the curtailment of their privileges. The chief of these was Szcz^sny (Felix) Potocki, who together with Francis Branicki and Severin Rzewuski formed in 1792 the confederation of Targowica, in the palatinate of Braclaw, near Human, and at their instigation fresh bodies of Russian troops invaded Poland. The feeble king made no resistance ; he signed the convention of Targowica, and the Russians entered Warsaw. Stanislaus was now reduced to a mere cypher, and the country was governed by the conven- tion ; which appointed a supreme court at Brzesc, called the generality, under the presidency of Felix Potocki. And yet such vigorous measures had been adopted by the celebrated Four Years Diet {Sejnn czteroletni) as it has been called, that Poland seemed
PONINSKI. 225
almost to have received the ehxir of a new Hfe. Some PoHsh authors, however, of modern times, and among these especially Kalinka, are inclined to think that the country was in a state too deeply demoralised and gangrened to admit of a cure.
We are familiar with the immunity which aristo- cratic criminals had enjoyed in the Republic, but a change was to be brought about during this diet, which ought to have had salutary effects upon the state. In August, of the year 1790, Prince Poninski, grand treasurer of the Crown, received the punishment of his treasons. He was unfortunately a type of too many of the Polish nobles. On the 8th of June, 1789, an accusation was brought against him by Zaleski, the deputy from Troki, in Lithuania, for high crimes and misdemeanours, in having at that period betrayed, from views of personal advantage, the interests of the state. The commission chosen to try him consisted of fourteen senators and twenty-four deputies. To prevent partiality, the names were chosen by ballot, and although they were not those of persons very favour- able to the prisoner, he found means to escape, as so many noble criminals had done at earlier stages of the history of the country. He was, however, retaken, but for all that was not punished. While the diet sat (loth of August, 1790), the charge against Poninski was suddenly revived, and many strong opinions were uttered on the subject. The grand treasurer, seeing what the result was likely to be, made a second attempt to escape. Although he had been released on bail and had given his word to remain, he left Warsaw secretly on Sunday, the 29th, but unfortunately for
16
226 STANISLAUS PONTATOWSKI.
him he was met on the road by the same captain who had secured him on his first escape. This officer found him fifty leagues from Warsaw, and brought him back. On the ist of September, before the tri- bunal of the diet, he was declared a traitor to his country, sentenced to lose his rank, honours, and em- ployments ; he was ordered to leave Warsaw in twenty- four hours, and the country in four weeks ; after which time, if he were found in the territories of the Repub- lic, he was to be put to death.
Prince Poninski heard the judgment uttered at the bar of the house, and was obliged to undergo the mortification of having his sentence published in front of the town hall, where the insignia of his order was torn off, and whence he was led through the principal streets, accompanied by the common crier, who proclaimed, '* It is thus that we punish traitors to their country."
On the 30th of August, an Act called the Univer- sal, was passed in the hall of the diet. In this docu- ment mention was made for the first time of the succession of the Elector of Saxony, the son of Augus- tus, to the throne of Poland.
When this project had obtained the consent of the diet, the king made a speech to the effect that he would not bring forward such a proposal unless he knew that it was agreeable to the whole nation, and to ascertain this, it was necessary that the provincial diets {sejiniki) should be convoked. Hereupon, many members present offered their assistance in carrying this measure, but wished that the king's own nephew should be chosen. To this, however, Stanislaus could
THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 227
not agree. He considered, as he said, that the Elec- tor of Saxony might greatly contribute to the dignity, power, and advantage of the Republic. In conse- quence of this resolution of the king, all the provin- cial assemblies, except that of Volhynia, demanded the Elector of Saxony as successor to the throne, and though this latter sejmik was less positive than the others in its declarations, yet every testimony was given of its esteem for the person and qualities of the Elector, In \}i\Q pacta conventa it was stipulated that no successor to the throne should be named during the life of the reigning king. The first and most im- portant step in opposition to this enactm.ent was not made by the king, but by the nation. Stanislaus nobly discarded his own relations, and only looked to the welfare of the state. The country was led to this infringement of its ancient law from a general con- viction that every interregnum caused a civil war, and frequently led to a foreign war.
In the beginning of 1791, several meetings were held respecting a reform in the constitution of Poland. On the 3rd of May of that year, a number of patriots, who had preconcerted the great objects which they meant to accomplish in the sitting of the diet that day, assembled in the king's chamber. There, in the presence of the sovereign, they engaged to carry out their resolutions, and they pledged themselves by a solemn engagement. The assembly was opened at the usual hour. The galleries were crowded with spectators, and the house was surrounded by thou- sands who could not gain admission. Instead of the marshals, the king himself opened the session.
228 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
He spoke to the effect that, notwithstanding all assurances to the contrary, there was an alarming rumour that the three neighbouring powers would terminate their jealousies at the expense of the terri- tories of the Republic ; that the only method of pre- serving Poland was to establish such a constitution as would secure its independence ; that with this view, there had been prepared a plan of a constitution, founded principally on those of England and the United States of America, and adapted as much as possible to the particular circumstances of the coun- try. In support of the information relative to foreign powers, the king communicated to the diet some des- patches received from the ministers of the Republic at foreign courts, stating how eager those powers were to oppose all settlement of the constitution, and that everything seemed to announce their hostile designs on Poland. The king desired that the plan which he submitted to them might be read, and an important debate upon it took place. One person only opposed it, and was allowed to have perfect freedom in the utterance of his opinion. The king would not swear to the new form of government till he had been re- leased from the/^^^<^ conventa which the members of the diet at once agreed to do. All the representatives of the palatinates of Volhynia and Podolia declared themselves against the new constitution. These were the fruits of the baneful confederation of Targowica, planned by the traitors to their country. One of the chief opponents was Suchorzewski, who resisted the plan that the crown should be made hereditary. He advanced from his seat and threw himself at the foot
ZABIELLO. 229
of the throne. We must remember that theatrical gestures were in vogue at the time, as when Burke threw the dagger on the floor of the House of Com- mons. He supplicated the king to renounce the idea of hereditary succession, which he declared would be fatal to the liberty of Poland. Others who supported him alleged the instructions of their pala- tinates, which prevented them from supporting the measure. They urged that at least the proposal should be taken ad deliberandum as every other new law was taken ; but a great number of voices dis- agreed with this. " We must pass the whole measure this day ; we will not; depart from this place till the whole work is accomplished." To this the opposition replied, " We will not depart until it is abandoned." We see by these struggles what perverse elements the Republic contained, and are again reminded of the French noblesse at the Revolution. The uncontrolled license which they enjoyed might well be character- ised in the wise words of Stanislaus Leszczynski, Siimina libertas etiam perire volentibus.
The king listened in silence ; at length Zabiello, the deputy of Livonia, entreated the speaker no longer to oppose the wishes of the majority, which exceeded the opposition in the proportion of at least ten to one ; at the same time nearly all the senators and deputies quitting their seats, filled the middle of the hall, and surrounding the throne demanded with loud voices that the king should take the oath to the new constitution. Stanislaus then called to him the Bishop of Cracow, and took the oath at his hands ; and the better to be seen and heard by the
230
STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKL
assembly he mounted on the seat and swore aloud. A great majority in the diet held up their right hands and followed his example. The diet had previously bound itself to decide all questions by a plurality oi votes. Much as Stanislaus was blameworthy in other matters in his career, it must be confessed that on this occasion he acted with true patriotism and dignity.
The king then proposed that they should all go to the cathedral and repeat the oath before God at the altar. All the bishops, all the senators, with a great
COIN OF STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS.
number of the deputies, accompanied the king to the cathedral, and there again solemnly engaged before God and their country to maintain the new government. It was by this time seven o'clock in the evening. A Te Deiim was sung, and the new constitution was announced to the people by the discharge of two hundred cannon. There were only about thirty or forty deputies who did not follow the king to the cathedral. The diet was now adjourned to the 5th of May. The opposing deputies, seeing that all resistance was useless, resolved to protest against the new constitution by the publication of a
NEW CONSTITUTION. 23I
manifesto, after which they quietly retired to their houses,
A great event had, indeed, taken place on this important day in the annals of the unfortunate country. The Poles felt that things must be mended, and we must always give them credit for the self-sacrifice which they showed on this occasion. It was, indeed, a splendid victory over prejudices, but the remedy came too late. It is said that on the eve of this memorable day the minister of one of the foreign powers had endeavoured, by distributing fifty thousand ducats in bribes, to prevent the enactment of the new constitution, which, if faithfully adhered to, might yet have saved Poland, mutilated as she already was. On the 4th of the same month eighteen deputies published their manifesto against the proceedings of the day before, and the deputy, Suchorzevvski, sent back to the king a decoration which he had once received from him.
In the sitting of the 5th of May the new form of constitution was again proposed, and signed unani- mously by the members present. We give here a short summary of the chief articles of this important document.
New Constitution of Poland as established May 3, 1791 : —
1. The Roman Catholic was to be the dominant religion, but freedom was assured to all other forms of faith.
2. All prerogatives granted by Casimir the Great in the statutes of Wislica and elsewhere were re- newed, confirmed, and declared to be inviolable.
232 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
The article then goes on to say : " We acknowledge the rank of the noble equestrian order in Poland to be equal to all degrees of nobility ; all persons of that order to be equal among themselves, not only in the eligibility to all posts of honour, trust, or emolu- ment, but in the enjoyment of all privileges and prerogatives, personal liberty, and security of im- movable and movable property : nor shall we suffer the least encroachment on either by the supreme national power, on which the present form of govern- ment is established, under any pretext whatsoever ; consequently we regard the preservation of personal security and property as by law ascertained to be a tie of society, and the very essence of civil liberty, which ought to be considered and respected for ever."
A great deal of the phraseology here is in the style of constitution writing which was in vogue in the eighteenth century, including, among other things, general reflections upon the rights of man. There is something vague about this article, and it is difficult to see how, if the nobles were to be guaranteed tn all their privileges, the important fourth article on the new position of the villages could be fully carried out.
3. The law made by the diet then sitting with respect to the burghers, giving them the right of representation, was to be carried out.
4. The important article on the condition of the peasants shall be here quoted in full : " The agricul- tural class, the most numerous in the nation, conse- quently forming the most considerable part of its force,
THE PEASANTRY. 233
we receive under the protection of national law and government, enacting that, whatever liberties, grants, and conventions between the proprietors and villagers, either individually or collectively, may be entered into authentically in future, such agreements shall import mutual and reciprocal obligations, binding- not only the present contracting parties, but even their successors by inheritance or acquisition. Thus, having secured to the proprietors every advantage to which they have a right from their villagers ( !), and willing to encourage most effectually the population of our country, zve ptiblisJi and proclaim a perfect and entire liberty to all people^ either who may be newly coming to settle, or those who, having emigrated, would return to their native country, and we declare most solemnly that any person coming into Poland from whatever part of the world, or returning from abroad, as soon as he sets his foot on the territory of the Republic becomes free, and at liberty to exercise his industry, wherever and in whatever manner he pleases, to settle either in towns or villages, to farm and rent lands and houses, on tenure and contracts, for as long a term as may be agreed on ; with liberty to remain or to remove, after having fulfilled the obligations he may have voluntarily entered into."
This article is surely somewhat vague ; as no peasants could possibly leave their masters' estates without leave, the expression about every man being free as soon as he returns and sets foot upon Polish territory, reads like a piece of clap-trap, borrowed from foreign legislation.
5. Form of government. All power to be derived
234 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
from the will of the people. Three distinct powers to compose the government of the Polish nation :
a. Legislative power in the states assembled.
b. Executive power in the king and council.
c. Judicial power in jurisdictions existing or to be established.
6. The diet or the legislative power. The diet shall be divided into two houses : the house of deputies and the senate, where the king is to preside. The former being the representative and central point of supreme authority, shall possess the pre-eminence in the legis- lature ; therefore all bills were to be decided first in this house, both general laws affecting constitutional, civil, and criminal matters, and the right of taxation, and also particular laws, questions of peace and war, ratification of treaties, and other matters. The king was to issue his proposals by means of the circular letters sent before the sejmiki (petty diets) to every palatinate for deliberation, and these would come before the house by means of the posly or deputies. The latter were to have precedence of all private bills.
The senate was to consist of bishops, palatines, castellans, and ministers, under the presidency of the king, who was to have but one vote, and the casting vote in case they were equal, which he might give either personally or by a message sent to the house. Every general law that passed formally through the house of deputies was to be sent immediately to the senate, and was to be either accepted or suspended till further public deliberation. If accepted, it became a law in all its force ; if suspended, it was to be resumed at the next diet ; and, if it was then
THE DIETS. 235
again passed by the house of deputies, the senate must also pass it. In the case of a particular law, as soon as it was passed by the house of deputies, and sent up to the senate, the votes of both houses were to be taken together, and the majority, if in its favour, should be taken to constitute the law a de- cree, and to express the will of the nation in the matter. Those senators and ministers who, from their share in the executive power, were accountable to the Republic, were not to have an active voice in the diet, but might be present in order to give necessary explanations.
The diets were to be summoned every two years, and the length of session should be determined by the law concerning diets. These two last enactments were of great importance : the first as recognising the responsibility of the public officers, who had dis- played in Poland on many occasions great political corruption, and, secondly, as effecting the annihilation of the liberum veto, which was further emphasised by the clause — the majority of votes shall decide every- thing and everywhere. An extraordinary diet was to be held every twenty-five years for the revision of the constitution, and such alterations as might be required.
7. Having secured to the Polish nation the right of enacting laws for themselves, the constitution now proceeded to entrust to the king and his council the highest power of executing the laws. This council was to be called Straz. The duty of the executive power was to see the laws properly carried out ; it could not make laws, nor interpret them. It was forbidden to
236 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKL
contract public debts ; to declare war, to conclude a treaty or any diplomatic act ; it was only allowed to carry on negotiations with foreign courts, and facili- tate temporary arrangements, always with reference to the diet. The Crown of Poland was declared here- ditary. The dynasty of the future king was to begin in the person of Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony, with the right of inheritance to the crown to his male descendants. The eldest son of the reii^ning; king was to succeed his father. To the nation was reserved the right of electing to the throne any other house or family after the extinction of the first.
The king's person was to be sacred and inviolable ; as no act could proceed immediately from him, he could not be in any manner responsible to the nation ; he was not an absolute monarch, but the father and head of the people ; his revenues, as fixed by the pacta conventa, were to be rigidly guaranteed to him. All public acts and the coin of the realm must bear his name ; he could pardon criminals condemned to death, except in the case of offences against the State. In the time of war he was to have the supreme com- mand of the national forces. With the consent of the diet he could appoint military commanders. He could also regulate the appointments to the executive council.
8. Judicial power. It was declared that every citizen ought to know where to seek justice, and every transgressor where to discern the hand of the government, a general statement very much in keeping with the eighteenth -century axioms of
CONDUCT OF THE PRUSSIANS. 237
government. The following courts were therefore established : —
Primary for each palatinate and district, com- posed of judges chosen at the sejmik, who were always to be ready to administer justice. From these courts appeals lay to the high tribunals, erected one for each of the three provinces, into which the kingdom was divided. These changes were very important as putting an end to the local tyrants, who had administered justice in their dis- tricts according to their own ideas and interests. Separate courts were established for the towns ; each province was to have a court of referendaries for the trial of cases relating to the peasantry, who were all at the same time declared free. Lastly, a committee was to be formed for making a new civil and criminal code by the help of persons whom the diet should elect for the purpose.
We have given in justice to the Poles the main features of this remarkable constitution at some length. It is a very interesting document, and the terms of it are not as well known as they should be.
But how was this constitution received by the neighbouring powers ?
The King of Prussia sent a letter complimentary, but at the same time full of duplicity, congratulating Stanislaus upon the new constitution. The old enemy of the Republic, Frederick the Great, had died in 1786, and had been succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II., a much weaker man, who allowed his policy to be directed by unscrupulous and incompetent ministers. The Russians openly
238 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
protested against the constitution, and moved troops into Polish territory. The convention of Targowica was already beginning to exercise its baneful effects. On June 8, 1792, the King of Prussia wrote again to Stanislaus, letting it be seen very clearly that he was prepared to assist Catherine. In their perplexity the Poles now appealed to the German Emperor, the weak Francis IL, but received an evasive and un- favourable answer. The enemies of the Republic were now pressing upon the country from all quarters, assisted by the traitors within her own borders. In consequence of the measures taken by the confederates of Targowica, the king was obliged to annul the new constitution, which promised so much for the country, and agree to the re-establish- ment of that which had previously existed. He was even obliged to order the army under Prince Poniatowski, his nephew, to be delivered up to the Russian general, Branicki, a renegade Pole ! When we remember all these difficulties we may perhaps be led to form a more merciful opinion of the character of the unfortunate Stanislaus.
Many people, however, of influence in the country refused to have matters arbitrarily changed in this way. Malachowski, Potocki, Sapieha, Solticki, and others, would not consent to a restitution of the old vicious system of government, and rather than accept such terms, resolved to throw the king overboard. The Prussians, however, now brought active inter- ference to bear upon the Poles ; a declaration was issued by them, in which they complained that the Poles had changed their mode of government, with-
KOSCIUSZKO. 239
out the knozv ledge or participation of the neighbouring friendly pozvers. A body of troops was now sent into the country under General Mollendorf. The Prussian troops entered Thorn on January 24, 1793, and Danzig soon after became completely a Prussian town. The Government of Poland hereupon (Feb- ruary 3rd) issued a protest at Grodno, signed by Stanislaus, Felix Potocki, and Alexander Sapieha. Before the final appeal to arms, there was to be one more constitutional struggle at the diet of Grodno, which terminated on November 24, 1793, at nine o'clock in the morning. In the same year the second treaty of partition was signed between Prussia and Russia. The former power acquired the remainder of Great Poland, and the Russian boundary was advanced to the centre of Lithuania and Volhynia. By this second partition Austria received nothing. She was fully occupied with France, and the division, as the German historian says, took place as it were behind her back.
The people, maddened by the national dishonour and the great losses of their territory, now rose under the celebrated Thaddeus Kosciuszko, by birth a Lithuanian, a noble-minded patriot and excellent general. Kosciuszko marched upon Warsaw, which was invested by the Prussian troops, and compelled them to raise the siege. Unfortunately, however, some massacres were committed by the popular party there, as also at Wilno ; which caused some Poles, including many of the clergy, to stand aloof from the insurgents ; Stanislaus was such a cypher that he was neglected by all parties. Suvorov, the
f
THADDEUS KOSCIUSZKO.
MACIEIOWICE.
241
Russian general, now entered the country, and Kosciuszko was defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of Macieiowice, near Warsaw, on October i, 1794 ; there is no truth, however, in the assertion that he exclaimed on that occasion, ''Finis Polonies:;'' this he denied to the day of his death. We have an interesting account of this battle in the " Notes of my Captivity in Russia," of the poet Niemcewicz. He writes as follows : " On the eve of the most unlucky day in my life, a day in which I lost my liberty, and witnessed with the greatest pain the events which precipitated the total ruin of my native country, I was calm and even merry. The house, where we were, had been plundered and laid waste, as were all others which the Russians had passed. It belonged formerly to the family of Macieiowski, and after- wards to that of Zamojski. In the drawing-room on the first floor were to be seen family portraits of primates, chancellors, generals, bishops, and others. All these gentlemen had their eyes put out and their faces cut with swords, and mangled by the Cossacks." He then goes on to say how the en- gagement began early on the following morning : " General Kosciuszko, apprehending at the beginning of the battle that the enemy would lodge themselves in the village, which covered our left wing, gave orders to set it on fire. As soon as the red balls were thrown, flames and curling clouds of smoke rose to the skies ; these flames and this smoke, and the poor peasants of the village, with their wives and children in tears, rushing to the wood in the attempt to save themselves, recall to my mind the most cruel scene I have ever
^1
242 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
witnessed." Niemcewicz was himself wounded and taken prisoner. " Between four and five o'clock in the evening, we saw a detachment of soldiers ap- proaching head-quarters, and carrying upon a hand- barrow, hastily constructed, a man half-dead. This was General Kosciuszko. His head and body, covered with blood, contrasted in a dreadful manner with the livid paleness of his face. He had on his head a large wound from a sword, and three on his back above the loins, from the thrusts of a pike. He could scarcely breathe." Niemcewicz and Kosciuszko were carried captives to St. Petersburg, and remained in prison till the death of Catherine. On the accession of Paul they were both released, and allowed to leave the country. Niemcewicz has described with great minuteness their interview with Paul, and winds up with the following tribute to the character of that eccentric man, of whom we so often hear nothing but abuse : " He said himself, and I have no doubt sincerely, that if he had reigned at the time, far from co-operating in the partition of Poland, he would have been strongly opposed to it."
As this is the last occasion on which Kosciuszko will be mentioned in our history, it may be as well to give the chief facts in the life of this illustrious man. He was sprung from a noble but poor Lithuanian family, and was born on February i6, 1746, at Mereczow Szczyzna, in the palatinate of Nowogrodek, near the birth-place of the poet Mickiewicz. After he had finished his studies, carried on both at Warsaw and Paris in the corps of cadets, he entered the service as an officer of engineers. But owing to an
KOSCIUSZKO IN FRANCE. 243
unfortunate attachment, in which the friends of the lady refused to recognise his suit, he left his native country again for France about the time when the war between England and her North American colonies broke out. Kosciuszko sailed for Phila- delphia, and on his arrival joined the American army as a volunteer, and was conspicuous for his bravery at the battles of Saratoga and Yellowsprings. Washington made him a brigadier, and afterwards Governor of West Point on the Hudson.
When peace was signed in 1783 between Great Britain and the United States, Kosciuszko returned to Poland, and led a retired life till the time when the conclusion of an alliance with Russia, in 1790, seemed to give a hope of the restoration of something like its old dignity to his country, which for some time had been overrun by foreign troops. Kosciuszko was then named brigadier-general, and when the confederates of Targowica had enabled the Russians to invade the country again, he distinguished himself at Zielence and Dubienka ( 1 792) . But the fatal weakness of King Stanislaus neutralised all his efforts, and in conjunc- tion with some others of the most promising Polish officers, he was obliged to quit his native country for fear of the vengeance of the Russians, who were now triumphant. This occurred in August, 1792; Kosciuszko betook himself to P'rance again, where the National Assembly accorded him the title of French citizen. After this time we find him residing at Leipzig and Dresden. But in 1794 he returned to his native country, then in the agonies of her dis- solution. He was now chosen head of the national
244 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
army, but, as previously mentioned, was taken pri- soner by the Russians at Macieiowice. We have already spoken of his release by Paul, together with many other Polish prisoners. The Tsar even offered him a high military position in Russia. But Kosciuszko refused all his gifts and repaired to the United States. Here he remained eighteen months, and then returned to Europe. The first country he visited in the old continent was France, in the hope that there he would be able to do something for the restoration of the independence of Poland. The government, however, of France would do nothing for him, but the people generally received him with cordiality. He was invited to a great banquet at which about 500 guests welcomed him. Bonneville, the president, proposed his health in the usual exag- gerated style of French eloquence, " La liberie est saiivee : Kosciuszko est en Europe ! " The Polish hero was not more successful with Napoleon, and accor- dingly went again into retirement at Fontainebleau, where he spent many years.
When Alexander I. had received by the treaty of Vienna a great part of Poland and had granted a constitution, the hopes of Kosciuszko were again aroused, and the patriot had several meetings with the Tsar, whose benevolent feelings towards him were somewhat chilled, when he perceived the extensive demands of the Poles, who considered the eastern boundary of their country to be the Dwina and the Dnieper. Kosciuszko, now finding that all his plans were regarded with disfavour, retired to Switzerland, and died there on October 15th, 1817, aged 71 years.
246 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
We must now return to the condition of Poland after the defeat of Kosciuszko. A paralysis seized the unfortunate country. The loss of their hero seemed the ruin of Poland. As his successor General Wawrzecki was chosen, but he exercised very little influence. The Poles now endeavoured to enter into negotiations with Suvorov, but he refused to admit them to his presence. Finding themselves cut off from all hope, the people of Warsaw re- solved to defend themselves to the last extremity, and Zai^czek took the management of affairs. The suburb of Praga, which afterwards obtained such a sad celebrity in European annals, is separated from the city of Warsaw by the river Vistula, but is joined by a bridge. Suvorov divided his army into seven columns, and commenced storming this suburb at five o'clock in the morning of the 3rd of November. The slaughter of the Poles was very great. 13,000 in- all perished at Praga ; more than 2,000 were drowned in the Vistula: 1500 were taken prisoners, and not more than 800 succeeded in returning to Warsaw. Among the slain were Generals Jasinski, Korsak, Kwasznewski, and Grabowski. The captives included Generals Mayen, Hesler, Krupinski, five colonels, and 438 other officers. Suvorov entered Praga when the horrors were over. Buxhovden was appointed governor of the conquered suburb ; a tent was put up for the Russian commander. The pri- soners were there brought to him ; he returned them their swords. That night he slept in a Kalmuck kibitka ; the two previous nights he had passed with- out sleep. Early on the following morning deputies
^0^^-^C-
SUVOROV.
248 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
from Warsaw made their appearance. They brought Suvorov a letter from King Stanislaus. " The Govern- ment of Warsaw," wrote this feeble man, " has asked my mediation : the inhabitants will defend them- selves, unless their lives and property are guaranteed." The deputies required an armistice for a week for the conclusion of a treaty. The general on duty brought back the answer of Suvorov. " Treaties are not necessary. The soldiers must be disarmed, and all weapons handed over to the Russians. The king will be confirmed in his position, the Russians will imme- diately enter Warsaw. The lives and property of the inhabitants are guaranteed : an answer is expected in the course of twenty-four hours." The deputies were brought into the tent of Suvorov : he sat on a block of wood : another block served him for a table. His only word was ^ pokoj' (peace), and throwing aside his sword he went to meet the deputies with outstretched arms. But he would not listen to any truce ; his only terms were, the disarming or sending away the soldiers from Warsaw, if they would not lay down their arms ; the delivery of their arms and arsenals to the Russians, and the setting free of the Russian prisoners. The space of a day was to be granted, and if these terms were refused, hostilities were at once to be recom- menced. An indescribable tumult reigned in Warsaw, and led to some sanguinary riots. On the 8th it capitulated, and the Russians made their entry into the unfortunate city, the keys of which were delivered to Suvorov. The following day he paid a visit to King Stanislaus. The last time they had met was seven years before at Kaniov, among the splendid
STANISLAUS ABDICATES. ^4^
retinue of Catherine, during her journey to the Crimea, The inhabitants of the city were disarmed. But there still remained elsewhere some bodies of Polish troops. Joseph Poniatowski was at Blon with 3000 men and 17 guns : Orzarowski at Suchoczino with 1500 men and 10 guns. Madalinski and D^browski, pursued by the Prussians and having 18,000 men with 20 guns, were reinforced by the 2000 infantry, 4000 scythemen, and 1500 cavalry with 25 guns, who had escaped from Warsaw. Orzarowski and Poniatowski endeavoured to come to terms with the conquerors, and dismissed their forces. Madalinski gave up the command to Wawrzecki, who was himself finally compelled to surrender, and thus the various Polish corps were broken up.
The Prussians now occupied Cracow ; they were as eager for the spoils as the Russians, but left the laborious and painful work to them, reaping all that they could from the efforts of others. The third division of Poland now took place. Austria had Cracow, with the country between the Pilica, the Vistula, and the Bug. Prussia had the capital with the territory as far as the Niemen, and the rest went to Russia. On April 25, 1795, Stanislaus resigned the crown at Grodno, and retired to St. Petersburg, where he died in 1798. His remains rest in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Nevski Prospect ; the exact place of his burial is unknown, as the inscription on the stone has long since been effaced by the feet of [worshippers in the church, and no one has been so careful of his memory as to have it re-cut. He died despised by Poles and Russians alike. Enough has
250 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKL
been said already about the weakness of his character, but Rulhiere tells us that the day after the Russians had forcibly carried away certain persons of rank and note for opposing the plans of the Empress Catherine, to the dismay of the capital, Stanislaus was found by the deputies of the diet busily em- ployed in sketching the pattern of a new uniform for certain of his attendants on the anniversary of his coronation. Still he could display manly conduct on some occasions, as on the memorable day of the promulgation of the new constitution. He was an elegant, accomplished man, and one who could admir- ably have filled a private station, but in the " fierce light that beats about the throne " we only see his weakness. And thus the history of independent Poland concludes with her Romulus Augustulus. During his life he was often reminded by the epigrams in circulation of the opinion in which his subjects held him, but the poor king was always more or less in a state of dependence. Soon after he ascended the throne, when he wished to form a matrimonial alliance with an archduchess of the Austrian family, he was obliged to forego it, because it would not be pleasing to Russia.
Paul, on his accession, invited Stanislaus to come to St. Petersburg. We have already seen that the Emperor was disposed to treat the Poles tenderly. Some details of this occurrence are given by Prince Czartoryski in his memoirs, he at that time being resident at the Russian Court. It appears that while Paul as Grand Duke was on his tour through various parts of Europe with his wife, they passed through Southern Poland, and the king met them at Wisnio-
STANISLAUS IN RUSSIA. 25 1
wiec, an interesting place on account of its historical associations. It had once belonged to the Wisnio- wiecki family, long extinct, whose last heir had married a Mniszek, the descendant of the man whose daughter became the wife of the false Demetrius. From this family also came Michael, the weak king who preceded Sobieski.
The apartments of the palace were full of valuable historical portraits. Among them were those of Marina and Demetrius : there were also pictures representing their coronation at Moscow. It was in this palace that King Stanislaus welcomed the Russian Grand Duke. Paul took a liking to him, and spoke of his intention of returning a hundredfold all his kindness. When Stanislaus, the victim of the caprice of fortune, came to St. Petersburg, he was received with royal honours. Paul offered him one of his palaces, which he had furnished magnificently for his use, and did what he could to make his stay agreeable ; but there was no thought of allowing the unfortunate king to return to Poland. In 1797 the coronation of the Emperor Paul took place at Moscow, and thither the Court followed him. He insisted that Stanislaus should also be present at this ceremony. His position at such a scene must have been a very painful one. We are told that during divine service and the ceremonies which pre- ceded the coronation Stanislaus was so tired out, that he sat dow^n in the tribune which had been assigned to him. Paul at once remarked this conduct, and sent a messenger to tell him that he must stand up while the ceremonies lasted, and the poor king was
^52 STANISLAUS PONIATOWSKI.
obliged to submit. It will be remembered that one of his nephews was Joseph Poniatowski, who distin- guished himself in the days of Poland's independence, and became a famous general of Napoleon. He was drowned in the river Elster after the battle of Leipzig. The statue of Joseph Poniatowski, which was the work of Thorwaldsen, and had been intended by the Poles to adorn one of the public squares of Warsaw, was ordered by the Emperor Nicholas to be broken to pieces ; he subsequently, however,' revoked his command, and presented it to Prince Paskevich, and it now adorns one of the seats formerly belonging to that nobleman.
Such was the fate of the proud Republic of Poland, which has since remained blotted out from the list of nations, although in the sixteenth century we have seen her the greatest power of Eastern Europe. To Poland nothing now remains but her language as a bond of union to her children. Her institutions and laws have perished ; in Galicia the Austrian civil code prevails ; in Posen, the Prussian Landrecht. In the kingdom of Poland under Russian government from the year 1 807 the code Napoleon has prevailed ; in the Western and South-western Governments the Lithuanian statute, changed by an ukase of June 25, 1840, into Russian law.
XII.
THE POLES AS SUBJECTS OF RUSSIA, AUSTRIA, AND PRUSSIA.
The great events of the French Revolution follow- ing with such startling rapidity seemed to efface from men's minds the immediate effects of the terrible fate of Poland. Many Poles emigrated on the destruction of their country's independence, and a large number entered the French service. But when they saw that nothing was done for them by the peace of Luneville (1801), many returned to their native country and accepted the amnesty which had been offered them. Some joined Napoleon in his expedition against St. Domingo, and perished there ; indeed, he is said to have been glad to get rid of them in this way as they had become importunate. The treatment of the Poles by Austria and Prussia was less generous than their treatment by Russia ; every attempt was made to Germanise them, and, indeed, Prussia has proceeded in the same course ever since. Russia still allowed the use of the native language, and Alexander, in 1803, con- ferred great privileges upon the University of Wilno.
Napoleon had become all-powerful after the battle
253
254 POLAND DISMEMBERED.
of Jena, in 1806, and in 1808 he took from Prussia some of her Polish possessions and formed them into a small Duchy of Warsaw, which consisted of six departments — Posen, Kalisz, Plock, Warsaw, Lomza, and Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) — with a population of a little more than two millions. The government of this duchy was given to the Elector of Saxony. It was extended in 18 10 by the incorporation of Cracow, Sandomir, Lublin, and other cities.
The Poles had greatly distinguished themselves in the Peninsular campaign, especially in the affair of Somo Sierra, on the 30th of November, 1808. It was by the capture of this place by the Polish lancers that the road was opened for the French troops to Madrid. In 18 12 took place the memorable expedi- tion of Napoleon to Russia. When he arrived at Wilno the Poles hoped for some declaration in favour of the restitution of the country's independence. They had joined the invading army to the number of 60,000 men. But when a deputation came to him at Wilno, informing him that the Diet of Warsaw had, on the 28th of June, voted the re-establishment of the kingdom, he answered evasively, contenting himself with general statements, and added, " I have guaran- teed to the Emperor of Austria the integrity of his dominions, and I cannot sanction any manoeuvre or any movement that tends to trouble the quiet posses- sion of what remains to him of the provinces of Poland." It was at Warsaw, on the loth of Decem- ber in the same year, that Napoleon had his interview with the Archbishop of Mechlin.
A resettlement of the conquered portions of Poland
TREATY OF VIENNA. 255
was made by the treaty of Vienna (18 14). Austria was to have Galicia and the salt mines of Wieliczka ; Posen was to belong to Prussia, and that power was confirmed in what she had gained at the first partition. The city and district of Cracow were to form an inde- pendent state under the guarantee of the three powers ; the remainder of the former kingdom of Poland, including the Duchy of Warsaw (embracing a tract bounded by a line drawn from Thorn to near Cracow on the west ; to the Bug and Niemen to the east), went to Russia, and was to form a constitutional kingdom subject to the Tsar. Professor Freeman com- pares the union in some respects with that of Sweden and Norway. The constitution was a liberal one considering the circumstances ; Poland was to be governed by responsible ministers, a senate, and a legislative chamber. There were to be a national army under the national flag and a separate budget. The freedom of the press and personal liberty were guaranteed, and Polish was to be the official language. But it was obvious that from the first it would be difficult to unite a country with such a liberal consti- tution to one under the patriarchal government of an autocrat, however good the intentions of Alexander may have been.
The Russian Emperor granted an amnesty to all the Poles who had fought against him under Napo- leon in the campaign of 1812, and in this resettlement of Poland was assisted by his old friend Prince Adam Czartoryski. In the Congress of Vienna Prince Adam played so prominent a part that Lord Castlereagh wrote to Lord Liverpool that the Prince, " although
GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE.
CONSTANTINE 25/
not in any officieil situation appears now the actual Russian minister at least in Polish and Saxon ques- tions." After the negotiations at Vienna the Emperor Alexander issued a proclamation to the Poles, dated May 25, 181 5, and a provisional government was formed at Warsaw, with Prince Czartoryski at the head. The enthusiasm of the Poles for Napoleon seems to have lasted till the end. Two Polish officers were very anxious to accompany him in any capacity to St. Helena, but were not permitted to do so. Herzen tells us in his Memoirs how the Poles were continually laying their wreaths at the base of the column in the Place Vendome. A Pole, Zaj^czek, was appointed viceroy of the new kingdom, and the Grand Duke Constantine, brother of the Russian Emperor, took the command of the army. The calm which was felt at first after the long dissensions in the country was soon destined to be interrupted. The ■ feud between Russia and Poland, as we have shown in preceding chapters, had existed for ages ; on one side, boundless liberty of the noble ; on the other, personal rule of the Tsar ; religious differences must be added. All the traditions of the Pole bound him to the west, of the Russian to the east. The proud Polish nobility, so long accustomed to unlimited authority, began to feel humiliated, and their indigna- tion soon showed itself In 18 19 a censorship of the press was established, contrary to the terms of the constitution ; some of the students of the Universities of Wilno and Warsaw were imprisoned for the expres- sion of liberal opinions ; the diets, according to the constitution, were to be convoked every two years, but
18
258 POLAND DISMEMBERED.
none were summoned between 1820 and 1825, and only one after the accession of Nicholas ; finally, in 1825, the publication of the debates was abolished. On the other hand, it seems to be proved that the city of Warsaw increased greatly in material pros- perity, as did the kingdom generally.
It was the French Revolution of 1830 which caused the mine, which had long been prepared, to explode. On the evening of the 29th of November, 1830, the insurrection broke out. It was begun by some stu- dents, who hoped to seize the Grand Duke Constan- tine at his residence, the palace Belvedere, in the vicinity of Warsaw. They killed two officers, but did not succeed in getting hold of Constantine. The citizens in the meantime rose, and the Polish soldiers joined the people, killing some of their officers who refused to desert their allegiance. The chief com- mand was given to General Chlopicki, a veteran who had distinguished himself under Napoleon. Constan- tine retreated towards Volhynia with the troops which remained faithful to him. Early in 1831 Nicholas sent Diebitsch at the head of 120,000 men to crush the insurrection. Chlopicki, who despaired of success, and hoped to arrange matters with the Emperor, laid down his dictatorship, which was conferred by the Poles on Prince Adam Czartoryski, whom, in case of success, they seem to have intended to make their king ; this noble family had already furnished so many great citizens to the republic. The Poles now carried on the insurrection more vigorously than ever, and appointed Prince Radziwill their commander-in- chief. In' answer to the proclamation of Diebitsch
WARSAW TAKEN. 259
they declared on the 25th of January that Nicholas had forfeited the crown, and by a supreme effort raised an army of 60,000 men, many of whom, how- ever, were badly armed. Diebitsch crossed the river Bug and received several checks from the insurgents, especially at Grochow. He was cut off from all com- munications with Russia by insurrections in Lithu- ania and Podolia. He defeated the Polish general Skrzynecki in the battle of Ostrol^ko (26th of May, 183 1), but died two days afterwards of cholera, which also in a short time carried off the Grand Duke Con- stantine at Vitebsk. Diebitsch, however, was suc- ceeded by Paskievich, to whom Warsaw capitulated on the 8th of September.
The punishment of the unfortunate country was severe ; many Poles who had been engaged in the insurrection were sent into Siberia, and the constitu- tion which had been given by Alexander I. was annulled. The diets were at an end, and the country was administered by officials, appointed directly by the Tsar. Its ancient historical divisions were also replaced by Russian governments {giibernii). The University of Wilno was suppressed and Kharkov founded in its stead. The valuable library at Warsaw, which was founded by the Zaluskis, was carried off, and now forms part of the Public Library of St. Petersburg.
After the collapse of the Polish revolution, Prince Czartoryrki escaped from the country, and arrived in London, but although a Whig Ministry was in power, the tone of England just at that time was somewhat conservative ; at all events, in matters of
26o POLAND DISMEMBERED.
foreign politics. The country was alarmed at the excitement in France, and the cries of revenge for Waterloo, and, as the Polish delegates reported to their compatriots, " had come to the conclusion that the policy of England ought to be, not to weaken Russia, as Europe might soon again require her services in the cause of order, and to prevent Poland, whom it regarded as the natural ally of France, from becoming * a French province of the Vistula.' " More- over, the Government was occupied with the Reform Bill and the Belgian question. According to his Memoirs, Prince Adam narrowly escaped capture by the Russian army at Cracow. " He arrived without a servant," says Niemcewicz the poet, who welcomed him to London, " deprived of all property, and his whole luggage represented by a small trunk. What a freak of fortune ! I well remember when I was his father's aide-de-camp fifty years ago, and when, during an inspection of the Lithuanian army, the tents of his suite were carried by 300 horses and fourteen camels." The Prince gained nothing from his interviews with Talleyrand and Palmerston, those two masters of state-craft, who put him off with vague speeches, expressive of sympathy, but little more. He was, however, extremely popular in London society, and on the 2nd of January, 1832, a public dinner was given to him, at which Campbell the poet made a speech. Our English Tyrtseus got up a kind of spasmodic enthusiasm, but although he talked a great deal about Polish authors and states- men, his zeal does not seem to have carried him so far as to attempt to learn their language ; at least,
AN CI LLC N. 261
to judge from his ludicrous misspellings and confu- sions of names and places.
Brougham, who was at that time Lord Chancellor, gave the Prince but little encouragement, although in his pre-ministerial days he had spoken warmly of the cause of Poland. Austria was on the side of Russia and Prussia also. Ancillon, the Prussian P'oreign Minister, is reported to have said that Poland had better be annihilated, " so as to have done with her once for all," and when the British ambassador at Berlin appealed to the Treaty of Vienna, he sharply replied that " every man can do as he likes in his own house." Nothing therefore was achieved for Poland, and although Prince Czartoryski took up his abode in England, his advocacy of the Polish cause was only met with rhetoric and platonic sympathy.
In this condition Poland remained for some years ; the only noteworthy event being the return of a large body of the Uniates in her former Eastern provinces to the Orthodox Church in 1839. The fact that Russia at the time of the Crimean War was engaged in a deadly struggle with two of the great European powers, raised the hopes of the Poles that something might be done for them. Their names had just before become somewhat prominent in Europe, as many of them assisted the Hungarians in the war of 1849. It was probably on this account that the Russians interfered on that occasion ; we all feel uncomfortable when a great fire is raging in our neighbourhood. The name of General Bern and his heroic achievements will at once occur to our readers, and we shall not readily forget his last struggle at
262 POLAND DISMEMBERED.
Segesvar (Schassburg), where the poet Petofi was his aide-de-camp. Bern died as a Mussulman at Aleppo in 1850. The Turkish Sultan, Abdul Medjid, refused to surrender the Polish refugees who had put themselves under his protection, although great efforts were made to induce him to give them up. Many of the Poles now entered the Turkish service, and it was to assist in the formation of a Polish legion that the poet Mickiewicz undertook his ill- fated journey to Constantinople. How he and they fared in their new spheres of action, we shall shortly have occasion to narrate.
The Crimean War, as we have said, roused the hopes of the Poles. Prince Czartoryski addressed several notes to the English Government, recom- mending various plans for attacks upon Russia. He also applied to the French Emperor, Napoleon HI., but found him vague and deceptive. The following remarks on an interview between him and Prince Adam are to be found in the life of Mickiewicz, by his son. In May, 1855, on the occasion of the attempt of Pianori, Prince Adam Czartoryski thought of presenting an address, in which it was said that the Poles blessed Providence for having preserved the life of him from whom they had such great hopes. The Prince called upon Mickiewicz, and begged him to accompany him to the Tuileries, thinking that he might find an opportunity for saying a few words on behalf of Poland. Mickiewicz accord- ingly went with him. The Emperor received them in a sa/o?t, where many persons were present. He expressed in a low voice his sympathies with Poland,
THE GALICIAN MASSACRES.
263
then, elevating his tone so as to be heard by the officers of his household, he added," I can do nothing for her." This duplicity made a bad impression on Prince Adam and the poet. The latter, however, made no remark at the time. But at night, when he related the occurrence to his private friends, he said, " That man has a vulgar soul," and added, speaking of the conduct of Prince Czartoryski : " The Pole was the most princely of the two."
The result might have been expected. When the Powers made one of their periodical temporary settlements of the Eastern Question at the treaty of Paris in 1856, the Poles found themselves wholly excluded from consideration. In this condition the Russian part of Poland continued to the year i860; the Prussian had given no signs of turbulence. In 1846 had broken out in Galicia a terrible revolt of the peasants, who are said to have been excited against their landlords by the Austrian Government. In consequence of these disturbances, the Republic of Cracow, the last remaining fragment of free Poland, was annexed to Austria.
In i860 broke out the last great Polish insurrec- tion, in all respects a very ill-advised attempt. On the 29th of November of that year, on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the revolution of 1830, national manifestations, taking a religious form, took place in the Warsaw churches, and the cele- brated Polish hymn, Bo^^e, cos Polsk^ (" O God, who hast protected Poland") was frequently heard in the streets. On the 25th of February, i86t, on the anniversary of the battle of Grochow, the Agri-
264 POLAND DISMEMBERED.
cultural Society of that city, presided over by Count Zamojski, held a meeting for the purpose of pre- senting a petiiion to the Emperor to grant a constitu- tion. Although the Tsar did not concede this demand, he decreed by an ukase of the 26th of March a council of state for the kingdom, elective councils in each government, and municipal councils in Warsaw and the chief cities. Moreover, the Polish language was to be adopted in all the schools of the kingdom. The Marquis Wielopolski was appointed Director of Public Instruction and Worship. Alexander in a previous speech at Warsaw had appeared conciliatory, but had warned the Poles against indulging in " dreams."
On the 8th of April the people appeared in crowds in front of the castle of the Viceroy, and when they refused to disperse, were fired upon by the soldiers. About two hundred persons were killed in this unfortunate affair, and many more wounded. The viceroyalty of Count Lambert was not successful in conciliating the people ; he was succeeded by Count LUders, who was reactionary in his policy. An attempt was made in June, 1862, on the life of the Count in the Saxon Garden (Saksonski Sad), and he was soon afterwards recalled ; his place being taken by the Grand Duke Constantine, who was chiefly guided by the Marquis Wielopolski, an unpopular but able man. Two attempts were made upon the life of the Grand Duke, the latter of which was nearly successful ; the life of Wielopolski was also several times in danger. An address was presented to the Grand Duke, in which he was told that in
THE SECRET COMMITTEE.
265
order to conciliate Polish feelings, all those provinces which had previously belonged to Poland, and had been acquired by Russia in earlier periods of her history during her wars with that country must be surrendered. But certainly no power in Europe would allow of such a readjustment of her territories as this. In consequence of Count Zamojski being considered the instigator of this address, he was requested by the Government to leave the country for a time. On the night of June 15, 1863, a secret conscription was held, and the persons con- sidered to be most hostile to the Government were taken in their beds and forcibly enlisted. Out of a population of 180,000 the number thus seized at Warsaw was 2,000 ; soon after this the insurrection broke out. Its proceedings were directed by a secret committee, styled R^^d (Government), and were as mysterious as the movements of the cele- brated FeJimgerichte. The Poles fought under enor- mous difficulties. Most of the bands consisted of undisciplined men, unfamiliar with military tactics, and they had to contend with well-organised troops. Few of them had muskets ; the generality were armed only with pikes, scythes, and sticks. The Russians had every advantage — rifles, hospitals for the wounded, and a good commissariat. The bands of the insurgents were chiefly composed of priests, the smaller landowners, lower officials, and peasants who had no land, but those peasants who possessed any land refused to join. Many showed but a languid patriotism on account of the oppressive laws relating to the poorer classes, formerly in vigour in
266 POLAND DISMEMBERED.
Poland, of which the tradition was still strong. The war was only guerilla fighting, in which the dense forests surrounding the towns were of great assist- ance to the insurgents. The secret emissaries of the revolutionary Government were called stiletcziki, from the daggers which they carried. They succeeded in killing many persons who had made themselves obnoxious to the national party. Especially note- worthy was the fate of the Jew, Hermani, who was stabbed on the staircase of the Hotel de I'Europe by four stiletcziki, when just about to quit the city. He had acted as a spy against the patriotic party. His treason, long suspected, had been discovered by the most daring conduct of the members of the Rzg,d. One of them disguised himself as a cJiinovnik, entered the house of the governor during his absence, and by means of false keys, obtained access to his papers. Then the treason of Hermani became patent, and he was sentenced to death. Marian Langiewicz, who was for some time dictator, was obliged to fly across the Austrian frontier.
No quarter was given to the chiefs of the insur- gents ; when captured they were shot or hanged. One of the saddest cases was that of Sierakowski, an ex-colonel of the Russian army, who was taken prisoner when desperately wounded, after an action in the forests of Lithuania. The Russians accused him of more than ordinary treachery in his desertion. He was hanged, although so desperately wounded that there was no hope of his life being saved. Other leaders of note were the priest Mackiewicz, and Narbutt, the son of the historian.
MURAVIEV.
267
General Muraviev was appointed governor of the western provinces, and established his head-quarters at Wilno ; his rule was an iron one, but not all the stories told of him are true. So much must be said in common fairness.
When the Grand Duke Constantine resigned the viceroyalty at Warsaw he was succeeded by Count Berg. The latter was fired upon from the windows of the Zamojski palace, in consequence of which the vast building was confiscated by the Government, and the furniture which it contained destroyed. In the damage which ensued the favourite pianoforte of the eminent Polish musician Chopin was dashed to pieces and some valuable Polish and Oriental manuscripts perished.
By May, 1864, the insurrection was suppressed, but it had cost Poland dear. All its old privileges were now taken away ; henceforth all teaching, both in the universities and schools, must be in the Russian lan- guage. Russia was triumphant, and paid no attention to the demands of the three Great Powers, England, France, and Austria. Prussia had long been silently and successfully carrying on her plan for the German - isation of Poscn, and on the 8th of February, 1863, she had concluded a convention with Russia with a view of putting a stop to the insurrection. Her method throughout has been more drastic ; she has slowly eliminated or weakened the Polish element, carefully avoiding any of those reprisals which would cause a European scandal. The Russian has alternately cares.sed and punished his Polish brother ; he feels however the sympathy of blood. He is proud of the
268
POLAND DISMEMBERED.
productions of Polish literature, as coming from a member of the great Slavonic family, and never assumes the real or affected contempt of the German. It only remains to add that Prince Adam Czartor- yski, the most prominent figure in recent Polish politics, died at Montfermeil, near Meaux, in 1861. The head of the family is now Prince Ladislaus.
XIII.
POLISH LITERATURE.
We do not find any early legendary poetry among
the Poles ; not only are no national heroes celebrated
in any productions of the kind, but no trace can be
found in Poland of any translation of popular
mediaeval poems, treating of knightly adventures of
Arthur or Charlemagne, of Hector or Alexander.
Bohemian literature has its Alexandreid, its Floris
and Blancheflor, but Poland nothing of the kind. But
that compositions of the sort existed would seem to
be rightly inferred from many passages in the old
Latin chroniclers, Gallus, Kadlubek, Boguchwal, and
Dlugosz. The first of these says that on the death of
Boleslas the Brave there was universal grief — Nulla
cantilena puellaris^ nullus cytharce somis andiebatiir
in tabernis. Bielski, the chronicler of the sixteenth
century, who wrote in Polish, tells us that Casimir I.,
on his return to Poland, was greeted with the song ;
A witazCy witaj inily gospodytiie {'' VJeXcomQ, welcome,
dear lord"). We also find mention in documents
of ioculatores, histriones^ goliardi, and others. In
Wojcicki's Library of Ancient Writers a few old Polish
songs are included, but it would be difficult to assign
369
^yo POLISH LITERATURE.
their date. The most ancient Polish hymn, used also as a war-song, was an address to the Virgin. The oldest manuscript of this poem is dated 1408, and is preserved at Cracow ; it was popularly attributed to St. Adalbert, but seems to be based upon a Bohemian hymn.
No account of Polish literature would be com- plete which omitted all mention of the writers who used Latin, and therefore we shall include in our sketch the most prominent of these authors. We must remember that also in England, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the early historical literature is in Latin. Vernacular history begins in Poland as soon as it did with us, viz., the sixteenth century. The most ancient of the Latinists is a certain Martin Gallus, who is supposed to have died about 11 13. He is said by some to have been a Frenchman, and we observe that Professor Briickner, of Berlin, styles him without hesitation — der Franzose. Other interpretations of his name have been sug- gested, but it is certain that he was a foreigner. His chronicle is written in a very poetical style ; probably had he used a vernacular, he would have written in some sort of verse. He was clearly a man of exten- sive reading, as appears by his quotations from classical authors.
Gallus was followed by Matthew Cholewa and Vincent Kadlubek, both bishops of Cracow, and Bogufal or Boguchwal, Bishop of Posen. Vincent Kadlubek was for a long time one of the most popular writers on Polish history, and, like Wenceslaus Hajek in Bohemia, had the faculty of making his myths and
QUEEN MARGARET S PSALTER. 27I
monstrous stories so pleasant to his countrymen that he was long looked upon as an infallible authority. But his legends have in many cases vanished before the searching criticism of modern scholars. His chronicle in our own days has been translated into Polish by two anonymous authors, who have added their version to the edition of Count Przezdziecki. Kadlubeck was first Provost of Sandomir, then Bishop of Cracow, and died a Cistercian monk in 1223. After his death he was canonised. However uncritical, the matter of his book is valuable, but the Latin which he employs is detestable.
Till the fourteenth century no specimens of the Polish language have been preserved, with the excep- tion of a few glosses, names of persons and places which have been collected with great care by Professor Baudoin de Courtenay in his work O Drevne-polskom jazike do XIV. stoletiya ("The Old Polish Language till the Fourteenth Century"). In this century some more chroniclers appeared, Martiiius Polonus and John of Czarnikow. They wrote in Latin. We have already spoken of the foundation of the University of Cracow. We know that a version of the Psalms in Polish existed in the thirteenth century, for we are told in a life of St. Kunigunde of Sandecz, near Cracow, who died in 1292, that, before she left the church, she was in the habit of saying ten psalms /;/ vulgar i.
The oldest specimen of the Polish language of any length which has come down to us is the so-called Psalter of Queen Margaret, discovered in 1826 at the convent of St. Florian at Linz in Austria. The date
272 POLISH LITERATURE.
of the manuscript appears to be about the middle of the fourteenth century. It has been carefully edited by Professor Nehring of Breslau (Posen, 1883). He thinks that it is a copy of an older work. The Psalter was by a mere conjecture called after Mar- garet, the first wife of King Louis, who died in 1349 ; Caro the historian is inclined to think that the book belonged to Mary his daughter. The next important monument of the Polish language is the Bible of Queen Sophia, originally called the Bible of Szarospatak, the place in Hungary at which it was preserved. The manuscript in its present state is imperfect, containing only the Pentateuch, Joshua, Ruth, and Kings ; there are fragments, however, of three other books, and quite recently a leaf containing a portion of the prophet Jeremiah has been found in the University Library at Breslau. This Bible is said to have been written for Sophia, the fourth wife of Ladislaus Jagiello, about 1455. It has been edited with great care by Professor Malecki, author of an excellent Polish grammar.
Among the terrible vicissitudes to which the unfor- tunate kingdom of Poland has been subjected the loss of many valuable manuscripts must be counted. Thus a fine Bible on vellum in seven folio volumes, even so late as the previous century was to be found in the library of Cz(^stochowa, as Professor Nehring proves by a citation from Janocki's letters. There was a printing press in Cracow as early as the year 1474, but the first book tn the Polish language was printed in 1521, at the press of Hieronymus Wietor. It was entitled "Speeches of the wise King Solomon." Other works soon made their appearance.
I
DLUGOSZ. 273
In a recent number of the Prace Filologiczne, Pro- fessor Bruckner has printed some valuable fragments of sermons {Knzania Swi^tokrzyskie) preserved at Gnesen, to which he assigns the date I4(X). And while speaking of these fragments we may mention, although belonging to a later period, the Life of Saint Eufraxia {Zyzuot S. Eiifraksyi), which has been published by M. Krynski, of Warsaw, in the above-mentioned lite- rary journal. It is preserved in the library of Count Krasinski at Warsaw, and is assigned to the date 1524. It is very gratifying to find these discoveries of forgotten fragments of the noble old Polish lan- guage, which must always have great attractions for the scholar. Prof Bruckner thinks that much remains undiscovered.
But leaving the vernacular for awhile, vv^e must say a few words about the thrice famous Jan Dlugosz or Longinus, as he was sometimes called, owing to the prevailing fashion of Latinising names. He has left us a most important chronicle written in Latin Dlugosz (141 5-1486) was Canon of Cracow. His work extends from the earliest periods of his country's history to his own time. The part which treats of the years from 1386 till just before his death is the most valuable. The work exists in many manuscripts, and a supplementary part remained for a long time unprinted. About 1500 were written the " Memoirs of a Polish Janissary " {Pami^tniki Janczara Polaka)y which have been already cited.
To this time also belongs the world-renowned Copernicus (1473-1543). We will add a short life of this great man as the main facts of it
19
274 POLISH LITERATURE.
are but little known. His father was a native of Cracow, who had settled as a wholesale trader at Thorn, where his illustrious son first saw the light. The regular form of his name was Coppernick. His mother. Barbel Watzelrode, was the daughter of a prosperous merchant. The education of the future astronomer was undertaken by his uncle, Lukas Watzelrode, subsequently Bishop of Ermeland or Warmia. Copernicus was first sent to a school in his native city, and afterwards studied at the Univer- sity of Cracow. He next visited Bologna and Padua, at the latter of these he also applied himself to medicine. In 1500 he was at Rome, where he lectured on mathematics. At one time we hear of his being a deputy to the Polish diet at Grodno. His great work in which he completely upset the Ptolemaic system, appeared in the last year of his life.
Copernicus had delayed its publication, being fully persuaded of the hostility to which he; would be exposed from the defenders of the old doctrines. In order to shield himself he dedicated the work to Pope Paul III. The title of it is : De Orbium CcBlestitim Revoltitionitus Libri XVL, and he was engaged on its composition from 1507 to 1530. Before it had issued from the press the great astronomer who, up to that time had enjoyed good health, was stricken with paralysis, which was accompanied by loss of memory and the obscuration of his intellectual powers. He now lay on his death-bed, and in this sad condition the work was brought to him by one of his pupils. He had just consciousness
COPERNICUS. 275
enough to recognise it as the work of his Hfe, and then fell into a stupor and shortly afterwards passed away. His house at Altenstein is still to be seen. A statue of him by Thorwaldsen ornaments one of the public squares of Warsaw. Copernicus lies buried at Thorn with the following inscription upon his tomb : —
NON PAREM PAULI GRATIAM REQUIRO
VENIAM PETRI NEQUE POSCO : SED QUAM
IN CRUCIS LIGNO DEDERAS LATRONI
SEDULUS ORG.
NICOLAO COPERNICO THORUNENSI
ABSOLUTE SUBTILITATIS
MATHEMATICO, NE TANTI VIRI APUD
EXTEROS CELEBERR. IN SUA
PATRIA PERIRET MEMORIA, HOC
MONUMENTUM POSITUM. MORT
VARMI^ IN SUO CANONICATU.
ANNO 1543, DIE 4 (sic), ^TATIS LXX.
The Poles call the period between 1541 and 1606 their golden age. We have already alluded to the wide spread of Protestantism in the land : the two Socini came to reside in Poland, and their Catechism was issued at Rakow in 1605.
With Nicholas Rej of Naglowice (i 505-1569) begins the list of Polish poets. We shall see among them the complete influence of the Renaissance. Up to this time as far as the Polish language had been cultivated it had been under the influence of Chekh literature. Rcj's best work was Zwierciadlo albo
276 POLISH LITERATURE.
zywot poczciwego czloivieka (" The Mirror, or the Life of an Honourable Man ") : this was written in prose. He has left us many apothegms, which remind us somewhat of the epigrams of John Heywood. He was also the author of a kind of play entitled "Joseph in Egypt," which abounds with strange anachronisms. Jan Kocha- nowski (i 503-1 584), called the prince of Polish poets, came of a poetical family, having a brother, a cousin, and a nephew, who were all authors of some kind. Kocha- nowski studied at the University of Padua, and after- wards visited Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Ronsard. Among his best productions may be mentioned his imitation of Vida's " Game of Chess," which is a free adaptation of the original, and Propor- zec, albo Hold Priiski (" The Standard, or Investiture of Prussia "), in which he describes the oath of fealty taken to the Polish king by Albert of Brandenburg. He wrote a play in one act with twelve scenes called " The Despatch of the Greek Ambassador," which is com- posed in the five-foot iambic metre, and reminds us of some of the plays of George Buchanan. It has rhymed choruses such as we see in some of the French plays of the sixteenth century. His most popular work, however, is his Treny, or " Lamentations written on the Death of his Daughter Ursula": they prove him to have been much more than an artificial poet. Besides his Polish compositions he also wrote some Latin elegies, one of which has already been quoted in the chapter relating to Henri de Valois and his flight from Poland.
In a short summary like the present we can only hope to give some of the leading names in Polish
SZYMONOWiC^. 277
literature. Szymonowicz (15 57-1629), called in Latin Simonides, wrote some good pastorals, which are valuable on account of the introduction of scenes of rustic life of a genuine Polish character ; the con- dition, however, of the peasants was too wretched to admit of their being made the subject of bucolic poems. But we shall perhaps be more inclined to believe the attempt possible if we remember the French pas- torals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Other writers of bucolics are the brothers Zimorowicz and Gawinski. Something may be said about them here collectively, although they extend into the Jesuitic period about which we shall shortly speak. The youngest of the brothers died early (1604-1629), and has only left us some pretty little songs which are as graceful as any by Herrick or Suckling, entitled Roxo- lanki. The elder, Joseph (i 597-1628), composed seven- teen very remarkable idyls. His sketches are from nature ; he writes picturesquely, and introduces many provincial words of Malo-Russian origin, which come into his poems, like the Scotticisms of Burns. Tw^o of the idyls {Kozaczyna and Burda Ruska) are almost, as Spasovich says, like pages from history, because an eye-witness describes in them the expedition of Khmelnitski with the Tatars against Red Russia and the sacking of Lemberg. Joseph published his idyls together with those of his brother, and to the latter many of Joseph's have been erroneously assigned. Their relation to each other as authors was first clearly pointed out by the critic Bielowski. These interesting writers were of Armenian origin. Altogether Szymonowicz, the brothers Zimorowicz
278 POLISH LITERATURE,
and Gawinski, form an interesting group : the Polish idyl is somewhat artificial, it is true ; but it is never without local colouring, and we are glad of the folklore in those of Szymonowicz and the historical pictures of those of Zimorowicz.
A celebrated Latin poet appeared in the person of Casimir Sarbiewski, whose name has been Latinised into Sarbievius (1646). His contemporaries con- sidered him the greatest rival of Horace that had appeared, and he received a gold medal from the Pope, who made him his laureate. His works appear to have had a certain popularity in England ; many of them were translated by Dr. Watts. A valuable history of Poland was composed in Latin by Martin Kromer (15 12-1589). He has been called the prince of Polish historians ; he certainly had a great command of the Latin language, and a very picturesque style. He was born in 1 5 12, at Biecz, a little town of Galicia, son of a citizen there, and was educated first at the University of Cracow, and afterwards in Bologna and Rome, where he studied theology. When he returned he was chosen secre- tary to Sigismund Augustus, and so popular was he with this prince, that after his coming to the throne Sigismund entrusted him with many public functions, and in order to open the path for him to the highest state ofifices, ennobled him in 1552. At the sugges- tion of this monarch, and with assistance from the national archives, he commenced his great historical work, De origme et rebus gestis Polonorum, which describes Polish affairs from the earliest period till the year 1506, that of the death of King Alexander.
KROMER. 279
It first appeared in 1555, at Basle, and has since been frequently reprinted. Kromer was a great advance upon his predecessors ; he has a most elegant and flowing style ; his Latin is classical, and he understands the political systems of the neighbouring peoples. Thus he has some- thing of the critical historian. He freely made use of his predecessors, Gallus, Kadlubek, and Dlugosz, and improved upon them. This was the age of the compilation of large historical works ; we had our HoUinshed, Bohemia her Hajek, and Poland her Kromer. The time' had not come for a really critical investigation of early history ; but the Renaissance had shown how to put the existing materials into an elegant shape. Besides his history, Kromer also wrote, Polonia^ sive de situ, populis, moribns et r-epublica regni Polonici. His works in the Polish language are not of great value ; one of them has already been mentioned on the imprisonment of Catherine Jagiello. They are chiefly polemical tracts against Luther. He was for some time coadjutor with Hosius, the Bishop of Warmia, and after his death was elected to fill his place. Kromer died in 1589. Two centuries after a very different kind of ecclesiastic, the volatile Krasicki filled the same position.
Two men deserve to be mentioned here on account of the position they took up, with a view to the reformation of Church and State ; they both wrote in Latin. These are Andrew Modrzewski and Stanislaus Orzechowski. The former, born in 1520, according to some, but more probably in 1503,
28o POLISH LITERATURE.
belongs to the men of the period of the Sigismunds, who clearly saw the necessity of a change in the existing state of things. The most important of his works is that entitled, Be Repuhlicd emeridandd (15 51). He shows a wonderful insight, and speaks with great, freedom on the various forms of govern- ment, on the social condition of the Polish ranks of society and on education. He recommended the es- tablishment of a National Church, which should be independent of Rome — something on the model of the Anglican. He saw beforehand that the power of the nobility, which knew no limit, must soon bring disaster upon Poland, and he advocated an im- provement of the criminal code, which in his time, be it remembered, only demanded ten groschen as the penalty for the wilful murder of a peasant by a nobleman, and a double penalty for slaying a Jew.
Stanislaus Orzechowski had studied at Wittenberg, and imbibed the principles of the Reformation. He had become a disciple of Luther and Melanchthon. After a short stay in Italy he returned to his native land in 1543, entered into orders, and was, after some time, promoted to the canonry of Przemysl. But although a member of the Roman Catholic priest- hood he could not entirely conceal his feelings, and was further stimulated by his relative, Rej, of Naglowice, the poet. Being the inhabitant of a province (Galicia), where the orthodox religion was prevalent, he expressed in his writings many opinions favourable to the Greek faith. P^or this he was cited before the ecclesiastical authorities, was obliged to recant his doctrines, and his book was burnt.
ORZECHOWSKL 281
His submission, however, was only temporary ; he soon afterwards married Magdalen Chelmicki, and when the Bishop of Przemysl cited him on that occasion before his tribunal, he arrived in the company or powerful friends, so that the bishop did not dare open the court, but affected to judge him by default, and signed a decree of excommunication. He was declared infamous, and his property was confiscated. But Orzechowski was in no way in- timidated. He publicly entered a church while divine service was going on, and uttered a justifica- tion of his conduct. His sentence Was suspended. The tide was now running against the Roman Catholics, as was strongly shown at the diet of 1550. There were plenty of such men as the Prince Radziwill, whom Horsey found such a strong Protestant. At this diet Orzechowski made his appearance. He read the exact terms of his excommunication, and then asked whether the clergy could dispose of a man's life in this way. The diet decided that in these things a Pole was only liable to his sovereign. In a bold manner Orzechow- ski addressed both king and senate, and succeeded in getting a delay ; and the Pope was to be con- sulted as to whether he might retain his wife.
But Orzechowski was not consistently firm ; we find him afterwards making peace with the Roman Catholics. .On the 17th of P^cbruary, 1552, he was absolved from his excommunication. He declared to a synod his submission in points of doctrine, and resigned his ecclesiastical dignities. He had hopes that the Roman authorities would recognise his
282 POLISH LITERATURE.
marriage. He was a powerful noble, and one whom it was worth while to conciliate. The great thing was to detach him from the Protestants. But our Pole was no respecter of Popes, and even dared address Julius III. in the following strain: "Consider, O Julius, and consider it well, with what a man you will have to do ; not with an Italian, indeed, but with a Russian [he was a native of Little Russia]. Not with one of your mean Popish subjects, but with the citizen of a kingdom where the monarch himself is obliged to obey the law. You may condemn me, if you like, to death, but you will not have done with me ; the king will not execute your sentence. The cause will be submitted to the Diet. Your Romans bow their knees before the crowd of your menials ; they bear on their necks the degrading yoke of the Roman scribes ; but such is not the case with us. Where the law rules, even the throne, the king, our lord, cannot do what he likes ; he must do what the law prescribes. He will not say, as soon as you shall give him a sign with your finger, or dazzle his eyes with the fisherman's ring — ' Stanislaus Orzechowski, Pope Julius wishes you to go into exile; therefore go.' I assure you that the king cannot wish that which you do. Our laws do not allow him to imprison or to exile any one who has not been condemned by a competent tribunal."
The works of Orzechowski were put into the Papal index, and he was declared by the ecclesiastical writers to be a servant of the devil. But instead of being tamed by these proceedings, he broke out into stronger invectives. This is the way in which he
ORZECHO\VSKI. 283
speaks of Pope Paul IV. : " Since the abominable Caraffa, who calls himself Paul the IV., has ejected from the church Moses and Christ, I shall willingly follow them. Can I consider it a disgrace to be a companion of those whom he calls heretics? This anathema will be an honour and a crown to me. The neglect of the ancient discipline has corrupted and degraded us. Paul, take care to prevent the final ruin of your see. Clear the city from its crimes ; eradicate avarice, despise the profits arising from the sale of your favours. I shall clearly explain and prove to my countrymen that Roman corruption does more harm to the Church than Lutheran perversity."
In others of his treatises he loaded this Pope with abuse, and announced a new work, which does not seem to have been published, but was seen in manu- script by his friends, entitled, Repiidiu7n Romce, in which he intended to expose the crimes and errors of the Popes. He declared that he intended to go over to the Greek Church, which was then, as it is now, the religion of the greater part of the people of the province of Galicia.
Orzechowski, amidst much incoherent abuse, told some stinging truths. Thus he showed that the oaths taken by the bishops to the papal see prevented them from being faithful subjects of the king. According to him a Roman Catholic bishop invested with the dignity of a senator was necessarily a traitor to his country, as he was obliged to prefer the interests of Rome to those of his sovereign, having sworn alle- giance first to the Pope and then to the king. " The oath," says Orzechowski, addressing the king,
284 POLISH LITERATURE.
" abolishes the Hberty of the bishops, and renders them spies on the nation and the monarch. The higher clergy having voluntarily submitted to this slavery have in reality entered into a conspiracy against their own country. Conspiring against you, they are yet sitting in your council. They have investigated your plans, and reported them to their foreign master." And again, in another place, he says of the clergy — " Let them baptize and preach, but not direct the affairs of the country. If, however, they wish to retain the senatorial dignity, let them re- nounce the allegiance of Rome." Many of these bold views of Orzechowski may be found in his work, De Primatii Papce, which was published anonymously in 1558, but is well known to have been written by him. We have felt it right to dwell at some length upon the career and opinions of this prominent man of the sixteenth century.
A very active wTJter in Latin was the Dominican monk, Abraham Bzowski, who died in 1637. He edited in nine volumes the ecclesiastical annals of Baronius. Klonowicz, who Latinised his name into Acernus {Klon being the Polish for maple), wrote some Polish and Latin poems. In the first of these entitled Flis (the boatman), he gives a minute picture of the scenery on the banks of the Vistula, the noble river which flows by the two capitals of the country, Cracow and Warsaw. He was thus able to take a wide survey of his native land. His two Latin poems are entitled " The Bag of Judas," and Victoria Deonun. We thus see Polish poetry, as far as it has advanced, somewhat of an exotic : it was
SKARGA. 285
a hot-house flower produced for the half-chivalrous, half-Asiatic society of the nobles, when they con- descended to take interest in letters. For them alone it was written ; the peasantry were sunk in ignorance and poverty. The burghers of the towns were mostly Germans or Jews, and for them Polish literature would have little or no significance. There was some amount of pulpit eloquence, but of rather a tawdry, rhetorical kind. The palm in this style of writing is carried off by Peter Skarga, whose activity as a Jesuit has been already spoken of He was one of the chief agents in bringing about the union of Brzesc, the way for which he prepared by a theo- logical work, published in Polish atWilno, in 1577 : he defended it also in a book issued the year after the Union, entitled. Synod Brzeski i jego obrona ("The Synod of Brzesc and its Defence"), 1597. Skarga appears as an indefatigable author, but of his numerous productions those best remembered are his sermons, preached before the diet {Kazania Sejmowe, 1600), in which he with fervid eloquence warned the Poles of the fatal consequences likely to ensue from their disunion, and the utter want among them of real patriotism. His miscellaneous sermons (including those on the Seven Sacraments) are also much admired, and Mechcrzynski, in his " History of Polish Eloquence," dwells with much praise on his funeral discourses, uttered at the burial of the widow of Stephen Batory, and the first wife of Sigismund HI. He seems, like Laud, to have believed in a theocracy, to which the royal power should be subservient.
History was written about this time in Latin by
286 POLISH LITERATURE.
Wapowski and others. The compilation of Alexander Gwagnin (who was by origin an Italian, the native form of his name being Guagnini) is valuable both for Russian and Polish history. But this century can boast of two historians who used the Polish language, Stryikowski, a very learned man, and Martin Bielski, born in 1495 at Biala, from which place he took his name. His book was, however, long viewed with suspicion on account of the leanings of the author to Calvinism.
Stryikowski was born in Mazuria in the year 1547, but having taken up his abode in Lithuania, he com- pletely identified himself with his new country, and even began to grieve about her loss of political inde- pendence, and that she was buried underneath her Polish civilisation. He resolved to hand down to posterity, the remains of her old nationality which every day were more and more decaying. The plan was an excellent one, but Stryikowski had not the talent to carry it out thoroughly. The requisite critical faculty and scientific training were wanting to him — as, indeed, they were to nearly every historian of his century — but he had two neces- sary qualities, love of knowledge and industry. He acquired the Russian and Lithuanian languages travelled all over Lithuania and Livonia, examining, the scenes of battles, and digging up kiirgans ' or funeral mounds. Moreover, he inspected a multitude of towns and churches ; in a word, he was the first Lithuanian archaeologist. All the varied information which he had acquired in this way he put into his book without any system ; just as nine-tenths of the
GORNICKI. 287
chroniclers of Western Europe were doing at the time. Mixing them up with some autobiographical details, he published them in a large work, with a very voluminous title : Kronika polska, litezvska, &c., 1582. About forty years ago a new edition of this work appeared with an excellent preface. Stryi- kowski died about the end of the sixteenth century.
The chronicle of Martin Bielski was the first attempt in Polish to give a history of the country. He begins with the creation of the world, just as Raleigh does among ourselves. Bielski styled his book Kronika swiata, " The Chronicle of the World." His son Joachim, who died in 1599, ^^^^^ ^^at part of his father's history which related to Poland, re- arranged it and published it under .the title, Kronika Polska.
Luke Gornicki, who lived in the latter half of the sixteenth century, wrote a work entitled Dzieje zv Koronie Pokkiej, which gives us an account of the doings of the Court of Sigismund Augustus, but he is better known by his didactic work Divorzanin Polski ("The Polish Nobleman "), written in imitation of the Italian book of Balthazar Castiglione, Libri del Cortegiano, which enjoyed such great popularity throughout Europe. Gornicki gives the following framework to his treatise. He represents that at the country house of Samuel Macieiowski, the Bishop of Cracow and Chancellor, near Cracow, the noblemen attendant upon the bishop (for at that time every bishop had such in his suite), were collected together. To pass away their time they discuss the question, With what qualities ought the ideal courtier to be fur-
288 POLISH LITERATURE.
nished ? Each speaks in turn, and their dialogues form the contents of the book.
A strange work belonging to this time is that of Bartosz (Bartholomew) Paprocki, which deals with Polish heraldry, and is entitled Hei^by Rycerstwa polskiego (" The Coats of Arms of the Polish Knight- hood "), Cracow, 1584. It was reprinted by Turowski in his edition of the Polish classics. Nicholas S?p Szarzinski, who died in 1581, when but little more than twenty years of age, deserves mention for having introduced the sonnet into Polish literature, a form of composition afterwards cultivated with great success by Mickiewicz, and in a less degree by Gaszynski. We have no space to enumerate the various transla- tions of the classics which appeared ; but the produc- tion of two elaborate versions of the " Ethics " and *' Politics " of Aristotle by Dr. Petrycy, the physician of Siglsmund III., will prove both that learned men could be found in the country, and that the Polish language had reached such a height of culture, as placed it on a level with the best tongues of Europe.
But now the rising literature was to be checked in its development, as were so many Polish institutions. The frivolous system of education introduced by the Jesuits brought on what has been called the Maca- ronic period of literature, which, roughly speaking, may be said to have lasted from 1606 to 1764. The language was now mixed with Latin expressions ; not only were many words introduced to the prejudice of good Slavonic terms, words some of which exist to the present day in the language and disfigure it ; but it was the custom in prose works to alternate whole sentences
POTOCKI. 289
of Latin with Polish. Much of the literature of this degraded period consists of fulsome panegyric, the verse is full of conceits, devoid of all taste. The poets of this period are rhymsters merely. Here and there, however, a man appeared to whose name some interest attaches, such as Waclaw Potocki (1622- 1696.?), now known to have been the author of the Wojna Chocimska, or " War of Chocim." This epic re- mained in manuscript till 1850 ; it has a great deal of colour, and forms a kind of oasis in the literary desert. It is unfortunately imperfect as a portion of the only manuscript in which it was preserved has been destroyed. The satirist Opalinski (1609- 1656) has left some rough blank verse, devoid of poetical merit, but important as illustrating the manners of his time. In one of his satires he lashes
r unsparingly the drunken habits of his countrymen, ■ fc m sc
^Rosumieifi, ze pijanstivo ia Polsce zasadzilo Swe gniazdo.'' (" I think that drunkenness has made its nest in Poland.")
He exhibited a type of character which will be found as long as human nature exists : that of the man who attitudinizes as a censor monitn, while him- self of a lower moral level than the majority of his fellows. For all his affected austerity, no greater traitor than this worthless man appears in the history of his country. An exception is also to be made in these annals of dulness in the case of Vespasian Kochowski, a soldier-poet, who has left us some
20
290 POLISH LITERATURE.
spirited lyrics. He served in the wars against the Cossacks and Swedes.
The Macaronic period sees historical composition take a retrograde step. Instead of works in the vernacular, we now have the Latin chronicles of Piasecki and Rudawski. Paul Piasecki was Bishop of Przemysl, and has given us a history of the reigns of Stephen Batory, Sigismund III., and Wladyslaw, his son. A translation into Polish appeared at Cracow in 1870. An indefatigable author of the same time was Simon Starowolski. He wrote in Latin various histories and works on philosophy. At a later period of his life he was canon of the cathedral of Cracow. It is said that Charles Gustavus of Sweden, when he plundered that city in 1655, was sent to see the cathedral, and Starowolski acted as his guide. When he came to the grave of Ladislaus Lokietek, Starowolski said, " This is the tomb of a king who, although driven twice from the throne, yet on both occasions got his crown back again." Upon this the proud Charles Gustavus, who kept his hat meanwhile on his head, said, " But your present king, John Casimir, when once he is driven from the country, will never come back again." Starowolski answered, " The lot of man is mutable ; God alone can lift him up and put him down." These words made such an impression upon the king that he quietly took off his hat, and in modest silence sur- veyed the rest of the monuments. He left the valuable ornaments which the cathedral contained uninjured, sparing even the silver shrine of St. Stanis- laus. The year after the Polish king came back
I
MORSZTYN. 2gi
into his country, but Starowolski did not live to see it.
After this period the use of the Latin language in Poland for Hterary composition gradually died out. But it seems to have been used, strange as it may seem, for colloquial purposes now and then, and we have curious stories on this subject from Coxe and other travellers. Quite recently the Academy of Cracow, among its other important publications, has issued a series of the works of the Polish poets who wrote in Latin.
The valuable memoirs of Pasek, written in Polish, have been preserved, and give us a curious picture of the times ; they have already been quoted. Towards the end of the seventeenth century something of French influence began to be felt in the country ; we must remember that the wife of John Sobieski was a French woman, and that the wife of John Casimir had been brought up at the French Court. The first tendency in this direction appears in the writings of Andrew Morsztyn, a traitor to his country, who afterwards died an exile in France. He translated the Cid of Corneille into Polish, and caught some of the lighter graces of the literature of that land with which he sympathised so much. Of Samuel Twardowski, a voluminous poet towards the close of the seventeenth century, the only work which deserves mention is a poem on the wars between the Poles and Turks.
The eighteenth century in Poland was one of political decay, as we have already shov/n, and the literature which it produced harmonises with its
292 POLISH LITERATURE.
decadence. Madame Elizabeth Druzbacka (1695- 1760) wrote some pieces not devoid of a feeling for nature, but her Polish abounds with Latinisms. In 1765 a national theatre was founded at Warsaw ; the feeble and elegant Stanislaus Poniatowski was a patron of such refinements. Actors had first ap- peared in the country in the time of John Casimir. A quaint story is told, how, on one occasion, some of the Polish spectators became so excited with the scenic representation, that they shot a volley of arrows upon the stage, to the danger and consternation of the actors. Religious plays appear to have been performed in early times ; sometimes in churches and churchyards. The Jesuits also composed plays to be acted by youths in grammar schools. Quite recently Professor Bruckner, of Berlin, discovered in the public library of St. Petersburg two Polish inter- ludes of the seventeenth century, in which the characters of inferior rank use Lithuanian, just as the subordinate persons in a Sanskrit play employ Prakrit.
A Polish Churchill appeared in the satirist W^gierski, and in Krasicki (1735-1801), the friend of Frederick the Great, a Polish embodiment of a iM-ench abbe. The so-called epic of the latter on the war of Chocim is, as might be expected, no epic at all ; but some of his lighter pieces and mock heroics are pleasing. He wrote, in prose, a survey of the various literatures of the world. Of course he finds Shakspere a very " incorrect " author.
A poetaster at best was Trembecki, the laureate of the Court of Stanislaus Poniatowski, who, among
KILINSKI,
293
Other productions, contributes Zofiowka, one of the descriptive pieces for which the eighteenth century was so famous.
Valuable material for the study of Polish history at the decline of her independence is afforded by the memoirs of the shoemaker, Jan Kilinski, who played an important part in the year 1794. He fought in all the Polish battles, and was finally taken off to St. Petersburg, where he was imprisoned. He was pardoned by the Emperor Paul, and on his return to Warsaw again betook himself to his craft of shoe- maker. Some years afterwards his " Recollections " appeared, and have continued to be held in esteem, both on account of the simplicity of the style, and the air of truth which pervades them. Kilinski died in the year 1820. Valuable also are the "Memoirs of Kozmian" (born 1771, died 1856J. He has given us true portraits of the leading actors in the great events of his day. It is characteristic of him that he thoroughly penetrated the hoUowness of the promises of Napoleon.
A genuine patriot was Stanislaus Staszic, who was born in 1755, at Pila in Great Poland, and received his education in Leipzig, Gottingen, and Paris. When the kingdom of Poland was established at the Con- gress of Vienna he was named minister, and his career was one of benevolent activity : he improved ^the existing schools and established new ones, and through him the University of Warsaw assumed a luch more important position. During his office, also, new manufactures were introduced into the country; an Institute for the Deaf and Dumb was founded, a
I
294 POLISH LITERATURE.
Conservatory for Music, and a School of Engineering. No man did more to advance the condition of the country in its decHne. He died on January 21, 1826. A patriot also was Hugh Koll^taj (the name to adapt it to Western pronunciation is sometimes written Kollontaj). He was born in 1750, in the palatinate of Sandomir, studied in Cracow, then took orders and went to Rome, to study theology and ecclestiastical law. For three years he was Rector of the Academy of Cracow, which he raised to a high state of efficiency, and was afterwards made Chancellor of the Crown. During the celebrated four years' diet he displayed extraordinary activity. In speeches full of eloquence he advocated reforms, and showed the possibility of maintaining a standing army of 60,000 men without a considerable outlay ; he wished for a reorganisation of the government of the country and its ministers. Such reforms might perhaps even then have saved Poland. He longed to do away with the curse of serfdom, and to give all classes of the com- munity a share in public affairs. This grant of citizenship to all members of the State had ten years earlier been recommended to the Poles by Jean Jacques Rousseau, who had been consulted on the subject by some patriots. Even at the present day one reads with astonishment of the boldness with which Koll^taj spoke against the deeply-rooted prejudices of the all-powerful nobility. These foolish men showed their traditional selfishness ; they were preparing the ruin of their country. Especially did this fine patriot devote himself to education, and it was to his strenuous efforts that its progress in the
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295
country at that time is to be attributed. He was convinced that the system upon which the repubh'c was based, with the election of its kings and other anomalies, could no longer be maintained, being an absolute anachronism among the nations of Europe. It would be useless to apply mild remedies to such diseases ; the root of the evil was the elective system : he, therefore, proposed to make the king hereditary. In this opinion he was supported by many intelligent and educated men. But he found opponents, who would not hear of any curtailment of this privilege of the nobility. Severyn Rzewuski, hetman of the Crown, answered him in a pamphlet on the succession in Poland, in which he contended for the old privilege of election. He brings forward Franklin and Washing- ton as the heroes of liberty against hereditary sovereignty, of which he says, giving the lie to his fine-sounding phrases about liberty, that such an institution might lessen the privileges of the nobility, and even make it possible for a peasant to bring a nobleman before a court of justice !
It will be remembered from a previous chapter that this Severyn Rzewuski was one of the members of the infamous confederation of Targowica, who sold their country in 1792.
On reading the letters of Kollg.taj it is impossible to say with what we are most struck : the sharp- sighted views of the man and his grasp of the situation, or the blindness of his opponents, who :ill haggled while their enemies were all round them. Perhaps, as Herr Nitschmann says, to whom ve are indebted for many just remarks upon this
296 POLISH LITERATURE.
interesting man, he was too fond of extreme measures, and too much of a democrat ! But this was no time to borrow the expression of the ancients, to sing in- cantations over a disease which demanded the knife. On the day of the storming of Praga, when Koll^taj saw that all hope was lost, he departed to Galicia, but was taken prisoner by the Austrian authorities in the palatinate of Sandomir, and imprisoned at Olmiitz, where he remained eight years in confine- ment, only obtaining his release in 1803. Even when he regained his liberty he could not recover his lost property. He now played no further political part, but betook himself to writing. He died on February 28, 1812. His historical and political works are not much remembered, but he has earned for himself an ever-enduring record in the pages of Polish history. One of the most active of his coadjutors was the Priest Jezierski, who wrote many severe satires on the political anomalies of his country.
But the literature of independent Poland was now finished. She was to have a greater and more original literature, but it was to be that of proscrip- tion and exile. The old pseudo-classical school of poetry, as it has been not inaptly styled, was now on the wane throughout Europe ; the Romantic school was to begin. We are obliged to omit the less conspicuous names in this new school, although perhaps a word may be said about Casimir Brod- zinski, author of a pleasing idyl, Wiesiaw who also translated into Polish many of the Latin poems of Jan Kochanowski.
The reputation of Julian Niemccwicz, once so
fi
NIEMCEWICZ.
297
widely spread among his countrymen, has not been maintained as an author ; still it would not be pos- sible to omit all mention of a man who played such an important part in his country's history. He was born in Lithuania in 1758. During his protracted life he was first adjutant of Kosciuszko ; then his companion in captivity at St. Petersburg ; afterwards secretary to the Polish Senate, and lastly president of the Royal Scientific Society of his country. He died as an emigre 2X Paris in 1841. Besides all these public services, discharged in the most critical days of Poland's history, Niemcewicz was a very prolific author. He wrote novels, plays, odes, epigrams, fables, and translated a great deal from English, among other works Pope's " Rape of the Lock." His patriotic comedy, " The Return of the Deputy," was first played on the 15th of January, 1791, at Warsaw, and had great success. It was to the credit of Niemcewicz that he endeavoured to interest his countrymen in the condition of the peasant. In the year 1788, when elected a deputy in the four-years' diet, he defended the rights of the burghers and serfs. On the ruin of his country he retired to America, where he lived ten years and married a rich widow. In 1807 he returned to Warsaw, but left it after 181 3, and did not revisit it till the establishment of the kingdom of Poland. It was during this period that he composed his historical songs, Spiewy Historycz- ne), which it would, perhaps, be unfair to criticise from a mere poetical point of view, as they are written mainly in a weak, sentimental style. They had, however, an immense effect at the time, and are
I
2g8 POLISH LITERATURE.
still popular among the Poles. They roused the spirit of dormant patriotism by presenting the most salient epochs of Polish history.
Niemcewicz vigorously supported the insurrection of 1830; when it had failed he was again obliged to leave his country. He was then seventy- four years of age, but he survived ten years longer. Shortly before his death he composed the following pathetic epitaph for himself: —
" Wygnancy, co tak dingo bladzicie po swiecie, Kiedyz znuzonym stopom spoczynek znajdziecie? Dziki golab ma gniazdo, robak ziemi bryl^ Kazdy c/lowiek ojczyzn^, a Polak mogile."
(" O ye exiles, who so long wander over the world,
Where will ye find a resting place for your weary steps ? The wild dove has its nest, and the worm a clod of earth, Each man a country, but the Pole a grave ! ")
We now come to Adam Mickiewicz, the greatest poet whom Poland has produced.
He was born at Nowogr6dek, near Wilno in 1798, and was educated at the university of the latter place, which we have spoken of as having been founded by Stephen Batory. Owing to the discovery of some secret societies which had been formed there among the students, he was sent to live as a kind of hostage in Russia, and while in that country visited the Crimea, to which he consecrated some beautiful sonnets. He left Russia in 1829, having obtained permission from the government to travel ; but he had made up his mind never to return, and soon afterwards took up his residence in Paris. Before leaving the country of his exile he published his
M
AUAM MICKIEWICZ.
300 POLISH LITERATURE.
Konrad Wallenrod, a story in verse of the ven- geance taken by the Lithuanians upon their Teutonic oppressors. As a specimen of the manner of Mickie- vvicz we will here find space for a short lyric from the last-mentioned poem :-
WILIA.
[A river of Lithuania, which flows by Kovno, and empties itself into the Niemen.]
Our WiHa, the mother of wild forest-torrents,
Rolls sands of pure gold 'neath her clear azure currents ;
liut purer in heart is our Litva's fair daughter,
And brighter in cheek as she drinks of the water.
'Mid the sweet vales of Kovno our Wilia is flowing ; Around her narcissi and tulips are growing. But gayer than roses' or tulips' proud splendour. At the Litvinka's feet are the youths that attend her.
These vales which the flowers with their soft beauty cover,
How Wilia despises for Niemen her lover !
The Litvinka is sad, and she slights every maiden;
For a youth that's a stranger her heart is love-laden.
Niemen with arms of wild force, as a giant
On its cold wintry breast its young lover doth pillow ;
Then hurries her onward, triumphant, defiant,
And sinks with her lost in the sea's maddened billow.
And thee, sweet Litvinka, the harsh fates shall sever
From thy dear native vales, the wild haunts of thy gladness ;
Absorbed jn the gulf of oblivion's dark river,
Thou shalt perish alone ! thou shalt fade in thy sadness.
Madden'd stream, madden'd heart, 'tis in vain one deploreth Wilia speeds, and the maid with love's spell is o'ertakcn; Wilia is lost in the Niemen she adoreth. And the maiden laments in the lone tower forsaken.
As a Lithuanian by birth Mickiewicz naturally turned to the legends of his own countr)-, and in the
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eautiful poem of Grazyna we have another piece on the wars between the knights and their heathen adversaries. This poem is said to have inspired the brave EmiHa Plater, who was the heroine of the Revolution of 1830, and after having fought in the ranks of the insurgents found a grave in the forests of Lithuania. One of the largest and most cele- brated pieces of Mickiewicz is his Pa7i Tadeusz^ by many considered his masterpiece, written in the year 1834. In this production we have a picture of Polish life at the time of the expedition of Napoleon to Russia in 181 2. Together with a slender love story, which is a necessary ingredient of all tales, Mickiewicz has given us a picture of the homes of the Polish magnates, with their old-fashioned and somewhat boisterous hospitality. The family feuds, the patriarchal manners, the luxury of the nobles, the Jews, and peasants, are all brought before us. To Mickiewicz it was a labour of love to describe the customs and scenes of his native Lithuania, to which he ever cast the longing eyes of an exile. The whole poem is steeped in the most delightful de- scriptions of scenery, in which Mickiewicz showed his greatest power. We do not consider him one whit inferior to Wordsworth or Shelley in his splendid cloud and forest pictures. Lithuania is the land of forests, and in that country in old times the trees were held sacred. He has described all the weird sights and sounds which are to be met with in the recesses of these primeval woods. We agree with him when he introduces his hero Thaddeus, as railing at the monotony of Italian skies : —
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" I mial rozum, zawolal Tadeusz z zapalem Te pantswa niebo wloskie, jak o niem slyszalem Blekitne, czyste, wszak to jak zamarzla woda. Czyz nie pi^kniejsze stokroc wiatr i niepogoda."
(** 'And he was right,' cried Thaddeus, with warmth. ' For that Italian sky of yours, as I have heard of it. So blue and pure, is just like frozen water. Are not wind and storm a hundred times more beautiful? ' '")
After his marriage in 1834, Mickiewicz wrote no more poetry ; his muse was perhaps silenced by the hard duties of every-day Hfe. The poet was very poor, and had difficulty in maintaining himself and family. In 1839 he received a call to Lausanne as professor of classical literature ; but before he had been a year in his new vocation, he was brought back to Paris by the offer of a Slavonic professorship in the College de France, which had been recently founded. Since the death of Pushkin, he was the undoubted head of Slavonic literature, and therefore the position seemed peculiarly appropriate. He delivered his lectures at first to a large and appreciative audience, but they cannot be said to have added to his reputa- tion. In the first place, he was but imperfectly acquainted with Slavonic literature outside of Polish ; of the other Slavonic languages he knew but little besides Russian, and of Russian literature nothing since the death of Pushkin, who in earlier days had been his intimate friend. The lectures are also dis- figured by many fantastic derivations of words, which prove too clearly, how little scientific method was to be found in the poet's philological studies. Still Mickiewicz had a name which worked like a spell on his countrymen, and he might have continued with
i^^u
MICKIEWICZ. 303
uch popularity in his office to give his audience magnificent aesthetic critiques and improvisations, such as those in which he excelled, had he not fallen a prey to the visionary ideas of a certain fanatic, named Towianski. Owing to the influence of this man, he became a religious mystic, and one part of his creed was, the belief that the Napoleonic family was destined to furnish the Messiah of the Polish nation, who would deliver them from the house of bondage. As his lectures were filled with these speculations he became obnoxious to the Government and was removed from his office. This was a great blow to him ; he was a man of simple habits, but with a wife and six children to maintain, his position became very precarious. His wife, moreover, was a constant invalid, and became ultimately insane, so that the poor poet had not the pleasures of a happy, if simple, household. We have now a portrait of him, wasted and stricken, but still retaining something of his old fire. He was invited to undertake the editorship of a French news- paper. La Tribune des Peiiples^ which was established in the earlier days of the Republic, but was not destined to last long. The Russian socialist, Hcrzen, in his interesting memoirs, published in the " Polar Star " {Poliariiaia Zviezda), has described the dinner which was given at Paris, to celebrate the foundation of this journal, on which occasion he first met the poet. The account is so interesting in its details, and brings Mickiewicz so vividly before us, that our readers will
I probably be glad to have a translation of a portion of it :— " When I arrived," says Herzen, "I found already a good number of guests assembled, among whom I
304 ■ POLISH LITERATURE.
there was hardly a single Frenchman ; but, on the other hand, various nations, from SiciHans to Croats, were well represented. One person especially in- terested me, Adam Mickiewicz ; I had never seen him before. He stood by the fireplace, leaning with his elbow on the mantelpiece. . . . Much care and suffering were expressed in his face, which was Lithuanian rather than Polish. The general impression produced by his appearance, especially by his head with its abundant grey hair and his weary look, was ex- perience of unhappiness, familiarity with mental distress, trouble amounting almost to madness — the very embodiment of the fate of Poland. Something seemed to restrain, to pre-occupy, to distract Mickie- wicz. This was his extraordinary mysticism, in which he was now further and further advancing. I went to him, and he began to interrogate me about Russia. His intercourse with the country had been interrupted. He knew but little of the literary movement since the days of Pushkin : he had stopped at the year when he left Russia. In spite of his fundamental idea of the fraternal union of all the Slavonic peoples, an idea which he was one of the first to develop, there re- mained in him something of a feeling unfriendly to Russia. . . . Ch. [The name of Herzen's friend which he does not give in full] told me that at the dinner he would propose a toast to the memory of the 24th of February, 1848, and that Mickiewicz would give a reply in which he would enunciate the programme of the future journal. He wished me as a Russian, to answer Mickiewicz. Not being in the habit of speaking publicly, and especially since I had
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made no preparation I declined his request, but promised to propose the health of Mickievvicz, and to add a few words to it, stating the circumstances under which I had first drunk it. At Moscow, at a public dinner given to Granovski [a celebrated professor of history, and intimate friend of Turgue- n lev, the novelist], in 1843, one of the guests raised his glass with the words : ' To the health of the great Slavonic poet, who is now absent' There was no need of mentioning the name. . . . All rose, lifted up their glasses and standing, drank in silence to the health of the exile. Ch. was satisfied. Having arranged our extempore speeches in such a manner we sat down to dinner. At the close Ch. proposed his toast : Mickiewicz thereupon rose and began to speak. His discourse was elaborate, clever, and extremely adroit, i.e., Barbes and Louis Napoleon might have publicly applauded it ; I began to feel disgusted at it. The more he developed his ideas, the more I felt something oppressive, and waited for just one word, one name, so that there might be no doubt. It was not slow in making its appear- ance. Mickiewicz at length proceeded to say that democracy is now taking a new position, at the head of which is France. That she will again rouse herself to the rescue of all oppressed peoples under those eagles and those flags, at the sight of which all emperors and governments had trembled, and that they will be again led forward by one of the members of that dynasty, crowned by the people, which has been appointed as it were by Providence itself, to carry on the revolution in the
21
306 POLISH LITERATURE.
regular path of authority and victory. When he had finished, with the exception of some slight applause -from his supporters, there was a general silence. Ch. saw clearly the mistake which Mickiewicz had made, and wishing to remove the effects of the speech as soon as possible, came up with a bottle, and pouring out a glass, whispered to me, * What are you going to do ? ' 'I will not say a word after that speech.' ' I entreat you to say something.' ' Not on any consideration.' The pause continued ; some fixed their eyes on their plates; others continually looked at their glasses, and others maintained private conversations with their neighbours. Mickiewicz changed coun- tenance and wished to say something, but a loud, */e demmide la parole,' was heard, and put an end to the disagreeable state of affairs. All turned to the person who rose. A little old man of seventy years of age, entirely grey, with a strikingly energetic expression in his face, stood up, with a glass in his trembling hand ; in his large black eyes and troubled countenance anger and displeasure were written. It was Ramon de la Sagra. * To the twenty-fourth of February,' he said, 'that was the toast which our host proposed. Yes, to the twenty-fourth of February, and to the destruction of every kind of despotism, whether it be called regal or imperial, Bourbon, or Bonaparte. I do not share the opinions of our friend Mickiewicz. He looks upon things as a poet, and may be right from his own point of view, but I cannot allow his words to pass without a protest in such a meeting as this.' And he continued in the
MICKIEWICZ,
307
same strain with all the fervour of a Spaniard and the authority of his seventy years. When he had finished, twenty hands, my own among the number, were stretched out to him with their glasses. Mickievvicz v^ished to justify himself, and said some words by way of explanation, but they were not successful. De la Sagra would not give in. Finally, all rose from the table, and Mickiewicz went out."
It was not until 1848 that the poet entirely freed himself from Towianski. He remained in poverty and neglect till 1852, when Prince Napoleon procured for him the modest post of librarian at the Arsenal. Mickiewicz continued till his death a staunch adherent of the Imperial family, but his confidence in its members was destined to receive some rude shocks. The last production of the great Polish poet cannot be called worthy of his genius. Follow- ing the tradition of Kochanovvski, Sarbievvski, and others in using Latin, he addressed an ode in that language to Napoleon III., on the taking of Bomar- sund. The poem is a poor one, leaving out of all consideration its completely anachronistic treat- ment. In 1855 Mickiewicz was sent by the French Government to Constantinople on a mission partly literary and partly political. On the one hand, he was to procure some information about the Christians under Turkish rule, the state of education among them (heaven save the mark !), and the manuscripts to be found in libraries. On the other, he was to assist in raising a Polish legion, in the pay of Turkey, to serve against Russia. The commission
308 POLISH LITERATURE.
given by the Minister of Public Instruction to Mickiewicz is indeed a curious document, and shows how Httle the condition of Turkey and the East generally was understood at that time. To us, reading it in the light of later events, it might be a document a century old. It will explain to a younger generation, not contemporary with the war, how the Anglo-French alliance with the Turks was a possibility. It must be declared in all frankness that whatever was to be done for the Christians in the East could never be accomplished by Polish agency. This is said in no depreciation of this gallant and chivalrous people. The strong religious barriers which separate such Ultramontanists as the Poles from all sympathy with the Serbs and Bulgarians, their Orthodox brethren, would alone prevent it. M. de Vogue, in one of his clever essays, has admirably sketched the Polish attitude in Slavonic questions ; with the Russian his conflicts have been for centuries both political and religious ; towards the other Slavonic countries in their national struggles he wears an air of haughty reserve, like a broken aristocrat compelled to share the shabby gentility of parvenus. But we must remember, in justice, that we have to do with a proud and manly race which has suffered many mortifications. Nothing, it may be honestly said, could have been expected for the Slavs from the poet's mission, but it was destined to end in the saddest way for Mickiewicz himself He was now a widower, and confiding his children to the care of their aunt, was anxious to escape awhile from his melancholy surroundings. On September
MICKIEWICZ.
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II, 1855, Mickiewicz parted with his family, having as companion a Pole named Henry Sluzalski ; a French friend, Armand Levy, who has given us some interesting letters, joined him on the way. On the 23rd of September the party was already at Constantinople. The letters furnish all the old impi'essions de voyage about that city, which have now become so stale. It is the old story of the splendid panorama and the disgust caused by the dirty streets. The poet was brought into connexion with some of the Polish officers in the service of the Sultan who had turned, or affected to have turned, Mussulmans, among others Ilinski, who fought at Silistria, and went under the name of Iskinder Pasha. Some extraordinary, and by no means creditable, stories are told of him and his basJii-bazouks, as the irregular troops of the Turks were called. The wretched man, unable to get assimilated to the barbarism which he saw around him and be con- tented, seems to have done little but drink and gamble. In order to lull the suspicions of the Turks, who doubted him, as the Egyptians did Napoleon I., when he declared himself to be a Mussulman, Ilinski carried a little flask of brandy in a case made to look like that which a Turk uses to carry his Koran. Thus, while pretending to pray and kiss the sacred volume devoutly, he had an opportunity of drinking at a secret hole in the box. Verily misery makes a man acquainted with strange bed -fellows !
The son of Mickiewicz, while writing about these strange adventures in his life of his father, attempts
310 POLISH LITERATURE. ■
a few palliative expressions, but is not very successful in his task. No doubt many Franks in the service of the Sultan are playing the same tricks now. We know that Bonneval, who became a Turkish pasha last century, and lies buried at Pera, with a most pious epitaph on his tomb, used to write letters to his friend Voltaire, lavishing all a Frenchman's wit in derision of the superstitions of Islam, to which he appeared to conform. The health of the poet was at first excellent, although he had to submit to many inconveniences, and being poor had to content him- self with humble lodgings. On the ist of November Levy writes : '' We are going to see a little house which we have taken at the end of Pera, with a view on the Bosphorus 'and a room for each of us. We are getting quite aristocratic ; Henry says wonderful things of our new domicile. I have not yet seen it, but I will tell you something about that which we are just leaving — a single room, and one of us located in each of the three corners ; the door occupies the fourth corner ; a mattress or carpet to lie on ; our cloaks for a counterpane ; our trunks for a table to cat upon, and your father's furnishes a sofa for visitors."
On the 4th of November, however, he writes : " I told you in my last letter that we were going to take a pretty little house all to ourselves. Everything was settled. The proprietor was delighted, when sud- dently the mollaJis (the Turkish priests of the locality) began to make a noise about it. * But they are Mag- yars, like myself,' said Colonel Kuczynski, a Hun- garian in the Turkish service. ' But thou art a
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Giaour,' was their answer. (In reality he had only- assumed a fez and Turkish name, but not the reli- gion.) ' Thy servant is a Giaour, and thy wife goes out unveiled.' In comes Colonel Osman-bey, a good Pole and a complete Turk, who says : ' Let us come and see the Pasha of our district' He goes. They tell him that the Franks are pushing everywhere. To which the other answers : ' You fool ! When the Franks have got you by the beard, do you dispute with them a single hair?' 'Well, then, let the Franks come.' But the Turks replied : * We prefer leaving the district,' and so they have done in more than one part of the city. Each time that the Franks have arrived in large numbers they have deserted it, preferring to leave their dwellings rather than endure the sight of rayahs, infidels without veils and tur- bans, and so we must give up our house ! "
Finally, on the 8th of November he writes to say that they were established in a tolerably clean little house at the end of one of the streets of Pera. But the lane in which the poet had taken up his quarters was a narrow and dirty one, and the cholera was raging at Constantinople. "The cholera," adds the son in the memoirs of his father, " is in a sort accli- matised at Constantinople. Its ravages may increase or decrease in intensity, but it never disappears entirely."
Mickiewicz is said to have been in very depressed spirits on account of the dissensions among his countrymen and the presentiment which he felt that France would abandon Poland at the treaty which would soon be signed by the European Powers,
312 POLISH LITERATURE.
After a short illness he died of cholera on the 26th of November. His remains, according to his last wishes, were brought back to Paris and laid in the cemetery at Montmorency by the side of his wife. A beautiful funeral oration was pronounced over his grave by Bohdan Zaleski, who has himself since joined the majority. But this was not to be the final resting-place of the poet In 1890 his remains were disinterred, and brought to Cracow, now the centre of Polish life, and there buried among others of Poland's greatest and worthiest sons in the cathedral, the Santa Croce of fallen Sarmatia. The streets of the pictu- resque old city were thronged with pilgrims, who had come from all parts of Europe. Many not being able to find accommodation in the hotels passed the night in the streets. An interesting feature in these vast crowds was the presence of so many peasants from the villages. For that day the Russian Govern- ment relaxed the passport system, and the funeral was attended by many Russian Poles. We can thus see how thoroughly Mickiewicz has become the representative poet of his country, and, with the single exception of Pushkin, the greatest of the Slavonic race.
Since his death the romantic school, of which he may be said to have been the founder among the Poles, has been further developed by the so-called Ukraine poets, especially Zaleski, Malczewskj, Gosz- czynski, and Slowacki. The first is the writer of an elegant poem, Biic/i od Stepu (" The Spirit of the Steppe "). The inspiration is altogether from the Ukraine, one of the most picturesque parts of Russia,
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313
once, we must remember, belonging to Poland, and still numbering many inhabitants who speak the Polish language. It is thus that Zaleski writes : —
" I mnie matka Ukraina, I mnie malka swego syna, Upowila w piesn u lona Czarockiejka."
(" Me also has my mother, the Ukraine, Me her son
Cradled in song on her bosom, The enchantress.")
Anton Malczewski (i 793-1 826), who died at the early age of thirty-three, wrote one poem, Marya^ which attracted but little attention at the time of its publication, but after its author's death attained a wide popularity. The opening verses are remarkably spirited. The following translation will perhaps give some idea of them : —
Cossack on thy flying steed, whither art thou bounding ?
Is't the fleet hare thou wilt catch on the steppe surrounding ?
Or dost in thy fancy taste liberty the sweetest ?
Or would'st try the Ukraine winds which of you is fleetest ?
Maybe thou dost soothe thy soul with that song's sad cadence,
Thinking of thy far-off love, comeliest of maidens.
O'er thy brow the cap is pressed, slackened is the bridle ;
Clouds of dust along thy path show thy course not idle.
Lo ! that sunburnt face of thine with what ardour glowing !
How thine eyes enraptured shine, joy its sparkles throwing ;
Thy wild steed obeys like thee ; then fleet as the swallow,
"With his eager neck outstretched, leaves the wind to follow.
Out ! poor peasant, from the road, lest a woe betide thee ;
Lest the courier spill thy goods, yea ! and override thee.
And thou dark bird of the sky everything that greetest,
Tho' around thou wheel'st thy flight, man and steed arc fleetest.
Croak thou may'st, but croak'st in vain, of ill-luck the prophet ;
Hide thy secret — for he's gone — thou'lt tell nothing of it,"
314 POLISH LITERATURE.
On lit by the setting sun ; onward ever driven ;
Like some messenger he seems, sent to men from heaven.
You may hear his horse's hoof echo half a mile hence ;
Over all that mighty steppe, lies a brooding silence.
Never merry sound of knight nor of squire careering,
Sad wind whispering in the wheat, that is all you're hearing.
In among the grass of graves, wizard voices sighing
Where with wither'd wreaths the brave all unreck'd are lying.
'Tis a music wild and sweet, voice of Polish nation,
Which preserves her memory fond for each generation
Only from the wild flowers now they their splendour borrow ;
Ah ! what heart that knows their fate, feels no pang of sorrow ! "
Malczewski, who led a wandering life, is said to have become acquainted with Byron at Venice, and to have suggested to the English poet the subject of Mazeppa. The chief poetical work of Goszczynski is the " Tower of Kaniow " {Zamek Kaniozvski)^ a romantic narrative poem.
But the most celebrated poets among the contem- poraries of Mickiewicz are Slowacki and Krasinski. Julius Slowacki (i 809-1 849) was born at Krzemi- niec, in Russian Poland. In 1831 he left his native country and resided thenceforth at Paris. There is something of Byron and Victor Hugo in his writings. In his long poem on Count Beniowski, he manages the ottava rima with wonderful dexterity. A mystic in every sense of the word was Sigismund Krasinski, born in 181 2 at Paris, and died in 1859. His chief work is his Nieboska Komedja (" The Undivine Comedy "), a strange poem dealing with the sufferings of his country. The small space at our disposal in a work of the present kind forbids any detailed criticism of
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minor Polish authors, and indeed there is abundance of them.
Before proceeding to mention the claimants of the laurel who are living in our own days, some- thing must be said of earlier writers, who introduced into the country special forms of literature. We have already spoken of the first scenic representa- tions in Poland ; the first dramatic writers were men who simply adapted French plays, and owing to the prevalence of the French school in Poland during the eighteenth century, this was a result which might be expected. Some of these writers were amazingly prolific, but the Poles never quite reconciled them- selves to French fashions, as Mickiewicz has so humorously shown at the beginning of his Pait Tadeiisz. Of course any imitation of Shakspere was out of the question. The great poet did not suit the French taste, although Coxe tells us that King Stanislaus confessed to a liking for him. We know from some of the writings of Krasicki what at that time was thought of the English dramatist in Poland. Trembecki gave a version of Hamlet's celebrated monologue, "To be, or not to be," and a translation of the whole play appeared at Lem- berg in 1797. At the present time the Poles can boast an excellent translation of Shakspere in blank verse.
No writer of talent, however, appeared in this field of literature till Count Alexander Fredro (1793-1876), who introduced genuine comedy to his countrymen. The influence of Moliere is paramount throughout the pieces he wrote, as might be expected in the case of a man whose youth was spent in France,
3l6 POLISH LITERATURE.
He formed one of the soldiers of Napoleon's foreign legion, and shared in the ill-fated expedition against Russia. His works are about seventeen in number ; although the style forcibly recalls Moliere, the
•characters and incidents are essentially Polish. Other authors have followed in his footsteps. His son, who died in 1891, also wrote comedies.
History in Poland can claim several authors of talent during the last century ; for instance, Narusze- wicz and Albertrandi. But in the nineteenth they have been eclipsed by greater names, and among
. these a prominent place must be given to Joachim Lelewel, once professor at Wilno.
Lelewel was born on the 22nd of March, 1786, at Warsaw. His family came from Germany, and he was originally called Loelhoefel ; his father, Charles, received Polish citizenship in 1777, and altered his name, which still has something foreign in its sound, as the accent is on the first syllable, whereas, accord- ing to the laws of Polish accentuation, it ought to be on the penultimate. In the year 18 14 he was appointed deputy-Professor of History at Wilno, and with this office his active career begins. He succeeded in arousing the enthusiasm of his pupils, and occupied himself not only with the duties of his chair, but also with literary work. After discharging these functions for some time he went to Warsaw, where he became librarian to the university. He was again, however, invited to Wilno, where he was received with open arms. The youth- ful Mickiewicz dedicated to him one of his finest odes. In 1823, in consequence of the prosecution by
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the Government of the secret societies at Wihio, he lost his place, and betook himself again to Warsaw. He now began writing a series of valuable historical monographs on ancient history ; especially on that 'of the Carthaginians. When, in the year 1830, the revolution broke out, he was elected a member of the national government, and president of the Patriotic Society ; although a man of meditation rather than of action, and one who had spent his life half-buried in the dust of a library. His political career was unsuccessful, but he remained throughout true to his principles, and on the termination of the revolution managed to escape from the country, although he was marked out for punishment in the ukases of the conqueror. He then betook himself to Paris : this city he was obliged to quit in 1832 and departed to Brussels, where he spent twenty-nine years in poverty and labour. Besides works on Polish history, he published while there a series of valuable books on geography, numismatics, and archaeology, partly in French and partly in Polish ; himself being the engraver of the maps and plates of coins which illustrated his works. The most celebrated of these were his " Numismatique du Moyen Age," 2 vols., 1835; "Geographic du Moyen Age," 4 vols., 1850-1852 ; and in Polish "Poland in the Middle Ages," 1845- 1851, "Foundations of Universal History." His services, not only to Polish, but to universal history and no less to geography, especially of the ancient world, were recognised not only by his own country- men, but by the scholars of all Europe.
In Brussels Lelewel inhabited for many years two
3l8 POLISH LITERATURE.
little rooms, in one of which he slept, worked, and received ordinary visits ; the other, a little better furnished, was only opened on special occasions. In the morning he was waited upon by an old Polish canteen woman, who boasted that Joseph Poniatowski,* shortly before he was drowned in the Elster at the battle of Leipzig, had taken a draught from her flask. In spite of all his philosophy, Lelewel never succeeded in learning how to set his room to rights, or to make his bed. He lived worse than the poorest Brussels artisan, but would never receive any con- tribution from his richer countrymen. As he sat in the winter in a room that could not be warmed, a Polish lady during his absence caused a stove to be put in ; but when he came back, he turned it out of the room — ^just as Dr. Johnson did with the shoes which had been given him — and only at last allowed a pipe to be introduced into his own from a neigh- bouring room, which was well warmed. He fre- quently, however, opened the windows during the severest frost. Coffee was a great refreshment to him, but he only enjoyed it once a week ; on other days he breakfasted on bread and milk. When Poles, who visited him, entitled him " Your Ex- cellency," as he had formerly been a minister, he forbade it, and would not allow himself to be called " Mr.,'' but only " citizen." During the morning hours he sat at his work with bare feet in felt shoes and in an old grey cloak, with a pocket-handkerchief which had at one time been white, but had now become brown, pinned to his knees : this he wished to have conveniently at hand, as he was a great
LELEWEL.
319
snuff-taker. His linen, however, was always very clean. At mid-day he went dressed in a blue work- man's blouse to a poor little public-house to get a humble meal among the artisans who frequented it. -As he never took a walk, he tried to get the requisite exercise by running about the streets in a brisk trot. No one pushed against him ; everybody greeted him, for he was held in much esteem, both by high and low. When on one occasion, a woman, who kept an eating-house frequented by Lelewel, at the instigation of his friends gave him better food than usually at the same price, he noticed the attempt to assist his poverty, and sternly refused all future efforts of the kind. His poverty, moreover, was voluntary, and sprang from a desire to remain true to his democratic principles. He was contented with very humble payment for the work which he undertook. When he was entrusted by the corporation of Brussels with the arrangement and cataloguing of the city col- lection of coins, he charged only a franc a day for this very important work.
On one occasion when he was taking some of the proofs of his " Coins of the Middle Ages " to his publisher's private house, the cook, who opened the door, thought he was a beggar. She saw before her an old man in a blue workman's blouse with a huge cap, and shut the door in his face. After long fruitless parleying to get admission, he said : " I am Lelewel." The cook with tears begged his pardon.
In the year 1861 the veteran of seventy- five years fell ill. Some of his friends succeeded in persuading him to allow himself to be taken to Paris, where a
-yK^A^
320 POLISH LITERATURE.
comfortable room had been got ready for him in the house of Dr. Dubois. He only consented on its being understood that all the expenditure should be paid out of the profits of his works. But three days later he was no more.
Many interesting circumstances relating to the career of this extraordinary enthusiast will be found in the pages of Nitschmann's GescJiichte der Polnis- chere Literatur. We were able to learn much A about the historian from the late M. Altmeyer, sometime Professor of Modern History in the Uni- versity of Brussels, who was well acquainted with Lelewel. We were told that the latter possessed many relics of the Insurrection of 1830, including some of the flags and some important documents.
Full justice has been done by subsequent writers to the learning and industry of Lelewel ; but his views on Polish history are not universally accepted. He has contemplated it too much from a democratic point of view, and has seen popular influences in the earlier stages of Polish history, which can hardly be said to have existed. Nor can his " History of Poland " be considered any longer the standard work, as it is now being cast into the shade by the German history commenced by Ropell, and now in course of continuation by Dr. Caro.
Some of the best work which has been done by Polish authors in modern times has been historical. The Academy of Cracow has published a mass of most important documents, and continues its valuable labours. Theodore Narbutt (1784- 1864) was the author of a large work on the ancient history
SZAJNOCHA. 321
of Lithuania, entitled Dzieje Starozytne narodti liteivskiego. It extends to nine volumes, and al- though it has been accused of want of critical power, it is a great storehouse of valuable materials. To him we are indebted for the publication of an old chronicle which had remained in manuscript, and which he issued under the title Pomniki do Dziejow litewskich (Wilno, 1846). Karl Szajnocha was the son of a Bohemian, who had settled in Galicia, where he held a small Government office. The historian was born in 1818, and as early as 1835, when he was a student, was imprisoned for six months by the Austrian Government in consequence of some verses which were found upon him. He first attracted notice by his "Age of Casimir the Great," and " Boleslas the Brave." These works were followed in 1855-56 by his history in three volumes of the reign of Jadwiga and Jagiello, which deservedly met with great favour, and is esteemed one of the most important Polish historical works. In the year 1857 the unfortunate author lost his sight from too much study, and thus, like Augustin Thierry and Prescott, was obliged to continue his labours by means oi dictation. He possessed, however, a powerful memory, and this helped him to triumph over his disaster. In 1858 he wrote a work to advocate the theory that the Polish kingdom had its origin from Norse or Varangian settlers, just as the Russian Empire had {Lechicki poczg,tek Polski, " The Lechs the Beginning of Poland "). The historian was not so happy in this conjectural domain as he had been in his other works, and his views have not found favour with critics. The
23
322 POLISH LITERATURE.
last publication of Szajnocha had to do with the wars of the Cossacks in the seventeenth century, which ended in their revolt and final transfer of their alle- giance to the Russians. He died in 1868.
Joseph Szujski was born at Tarnow in Galicia in 1835, and made his reputation by his great work, " The History of Poland according to the latest Investiga- tions "(4 vols. Lemberg. 1862-1865). Besides his his- torical works he is also the author of several plays, which enjoy much popularity among his countrymen. Valuable historical works were also produced by Henry Schmitt, born in 18 17, who died a short time ago, especially his " Reign of Stanislaus Augustus," and " Life of Hugo Kollg.taj." Allusion has already been made to the classical work of Valerian Kalinka on the " Four Years' Diet." He also published at Posen in 1868 " The Last Years of the Reign of Stanislaus Augustus." Vincent Zakrzewski (born in 1844) has written an important work on the Reformation in Poland, and published also at Cracow, in 1878, a description of the long interregnum which occurred in Poland after the flight of Henri de Valois, when the country was rent by political and religious dis- turbances.
Lastly, we must mention Stanislaus Smolka and Michael Bobrzynski, both now living.
Of Polish novelists we have as yet said nothing, but space must be found to mention the extraordinary labours of Kraszewski. His chief works are novels treating in the main of Polish history. His writings of all kinds amounted in 1879, when he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his career as an author, to the
KRASZEWSKI.
323
number of two hundred and fifty works. One of the most popular of his novels is " Yermola the Potter," a pathetic tale, which resembles in plot the " Silas Marner" of George Eliot, but it appeared in 1857, some time before the appearance of that work. Krasz- ewski was arrested by the Government on a charge of having treasonably procured plans of German fortifications, and sentenced to imprisonment in the fortress of Magdeburg. He was, however, released on parole, which he broke, and soon afterwards died at Geneva in 1887. A popular writer still living is Henry Sienkewicz, the author of some celebrated historical novels. Of these two have appeared in English, " With Fire and Sword " and " The Deluge." Sienke- wicz gives us some very vigorous historical pictures. Russian critics are apt to complain of them that he makes the virtues too much on the side of the Poles, and depicts their Malo-Russian subjects as half-savages.
We must now retrace our steps somewhat to speak of the lesser luminaries among the Polish poets, who were more or less of the school of Mickiewicz. First we would place Constantine Gaszynski, his friend, who died in 1868. Some of his lyrics have become wonder- fully popular, and will be found in the common song- books ; but his sonnets alone ought to embalm his memory. The following strikes us as worth trans- lating on account of its beauty : —
TO HIS MOTHER ON CHRISTMAS EVE.
Mother, 'tis now five years the trees all bare With snow have glisten'd : five times winter's cold Hath breathed, since inmates of a happy fold Upon this holy eve we knelt in prayer.
324 POLISH LITERATURE.
Forlorn, thou easiest sad eyes everywhere, What time the number of thy flock is told ; And sayest: " We had our Constantine of old, But strangers with him now their Christmas share."
Oh 1 mother, when thou prayest at eve deploring, To Mary, with thy accent low and sweet, The voices of our hearts shall blend and meet ; And the glad angels to the heaven upsoaring Shall bear two fragrant flowers twined in one wreath, The prayers that lonely son and mother breathe.
A graceful poet still living is Theophilus Lenart- owicz, born in 1822 ; he quitted his native country in 1848. Since that time he has resided chiefly at Florence. He is also a sculptor, and has pub- lished some exquisite lyrics, which are conspicuous for their deep religious feeling. One of the most powerful is that entitled '* Lazarus, arise ! " His poems appeared at Posen in two volumes in 1863. We must find space to mention Vincent Pol, author of a poem entitled "Wit Stwosz," celebrating the Polish architect of the fifteenth century, and Wences- laus Kondratowicz ; the latter wrote under the nom de guerre of Syrokomla. These poets enjoy deservedly a high reputation among their countrymen.
In Cornelius Ujejski, born in 1823 in Galicia, we have one of the most powerful of the modern Polish lyrical poets. His celebrated verses, Z dymem po- zarSw, which enjoyed and still enjoy immense popularity throughout Poland, are here given in an English version, which, it is hoped, will give some faint idea of their extraordinary power. They were written during the terrible uprising of the Galician
peasantry in 1846 ;
UyEJSKI,
'Mid smoke of burnings, 'mid blood of brothers, Our voice, O God, goes^p to-day : This fearful woe our groan half smothers ; With long-spent anguish our heads are grey. Our songs are only songs of wailing ; A crown of thorns is about our brow ; Like monuments of Thy wrath prevailing, Our hands are stretched with their proffer'd vow.
Oft hast thou scourged us : our wounds all bleeding Show ghastly from Thy heavenly rod ; But still " He'll pity," is all our pleading, For He is our Father ! He is our God. And when we would taste of comfort after, Against us the foe at Thy bidding raves ; Like a stone at our hearts his bitter laughter. Where is this Father — this God who saves ?
We look at the sky and think that surely
A hundred suns will give their sign ;
O'er us the blue is spread all purely ;
The free bird bathes in its calm divine.
But with such doubts our souls are teeming,
Our faith grown feeble is hardly stirred ;
Our hearts bleed inly ! — O ! judge not our seeming
Rash murmurs — ^judge not each frenzied word !
We know not one day from another,
O God ! for its hourly tale of pain :
Son slays sire, and brother brother.
We have around us the brood of Cain.
Lord ! they are guiltless ; their eyes are blinded,
Though through them we shall live abhorr'd ;
There are unseen doers, like devils minded,
O punish the hand, and not the sword.
See in our lonely anguish lying.
We haste to Thy stars and seek Thy breast ;
Like weary birds with our prayers we're flying.
And long to find some peaceful nest.
Give us Thy grace in our toils to arm us :
Safe in Thy folds Thy children keep ;
The fragrance of grief's crush'd flowers shall charm us
The halo of chastening light our sleep :
325
326 POLISH LITERATURE.
With Thy archangel before us tow'ring, On we'll march to the great strife— on ! And o'er the body of Satan cow'ring, We'll plant Thy banner for victory won ! We'll open our hearts to our brother's prayers, The cross of freedom shall cleanse his stains ; And this our answer to foul gainsayers, As He was ever, so God remains.
The best known contemporary poet is Adam Asnyk, whose compositions are chiefly lyrical : he lives at Cracow. The most popular poetess is Maria Konop- nicka.
In spite of the difficulties under which the dis- membered country labours, there are four fairly active centres of Polish literature : Warsaw, Cracow, Lemberg, and Posen, the last much less than the other three, because the province has been more completely Germanised. The University of Warsaw has been Russified since the late insurrection, but Cracow and Lemberg, which are thoroughly Polish, boast some eminent professors. The work of the Academy of Cracow has already been spoken of; it was founded in 1872. Of considerable value are the editions of rare Polish authors of the sixteenth cen- tury, which are now appearing under its superintend- ence. Many learned reviews appear in Polish, quite up to the level of the best English, French, and German.
\
XIV.
THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
The occurrence of such a phenomenon in European history as the disappearance from the commonwealth of nations of a country which had existed for eight hundred years, seems to call for some attempt at explanation. The question has often been asked, What were the causes of the fall of Poland ? We propose in the present chapter to attempt to answer this inquiry, but before doing so, we shall describe the political and social condition of the Kingdom, or rather Republic {Rzeczpospolitd) in the days of its independence.
We have seen how the Crown, w^hich in earlier times was more or less hereditary in the families of the Piasts and Jagiellos, became purely elective in the persons of Henri de Valois and Stephen Batory ; but even afterwards in the three following kings went into a side branch of the Jagiellos. Michael Korybut and Sobieski were not connected directly with any royal line, but we shall obsei-ve that after the reign of Augustus of Saxony the throne was obtained by his son.
Wc have already spoken q>{ the pacta conventa. 327
328 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
These conditions, to which every sovereign after the time of Henri de Valois was obliged to swear obedi- ence, were founded upon the body of privileges which the nobles had extorted from the king since the time of Louis (Pol, Ludwik), 1 370-1 382. Several additions were subsequently made. The following summary contains the chief of these /^^/^.
1. The king was not to attempt to influence the senate in the choice of a successor.
2. He must observe the agreements which had been made with the Dissidents.
3. No war was to be declared, or military expedi- tions undertaken, without the consent of the diet.
4. No taxes were to be imposed without the consent of the diet.
5. The king could not appoint ambassadors to foreign courts.
6. In case of different opinions prevailing among the senators, he should adopt only such as were in accordance with the laws and clearly advantageous to the nation.
7. He should be furnished with a permanent council, the members of which (sixteen in number, viz., four bishops, four palatines, and eight castellans) should be changed every half year, and should be chosen by the ordinary diets.
8. A general diet should be convened every two years at least.
9. The duration of each diet was not to exceed six weeks.
10. None but a native could hold any dignity or benefice
THE NOBILITY,
329
II. The king must neither marry nor divorce a wife without the consent of the diet.
So much for the power of the king.
The inhabitants of Poland might be divided as follows : a. the Nobles ; b. the Clergy ; c. the Burghers ; d. the Peasants ; e. the Jews.
a. According to the Polish laws, a noble was a person possessing a freehold estate, or one who could prove his descent from ancestors possessing a freehold, who followed no trade, and could choose their place of habitation. Under this category came all besides burghers and peasants. All these nobles were equal by birth, and it was expressly stated in the Polish laws that titles gave no precedence. By means of their representatives in the diet, the nobles had a share in the legislation. As a man lost his nobility if he engaged in any commercial transactions, the country was full of poor gentry who swelled the retinues of the richer nobles. This was expressed in the Polish proverb : Szlachcic na zagrodzie rowity Wojezvodzie (the nobleman on his plot of ground {zagrodd) is equal to a Wojewode or Palatine). A nobleman alone might wear a sword, and thus, as Mr. Naganowski tells us, it was not unusual to see the zasciankozvicze, or inhabitants of the zascianki, a sort
tof peasant nobles, following the plough barefooted wearing an old rusty sword at their side tied by a piece of string. In the pages of Hauteville we get a glimpse of the mode of life of the nobles at the close of the seventeenth century — before, let us remember, that the country had sunk into insignificance and Poland had
UIMj[ai[lllillli[L^^ POLISH ARMOUR AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
THE NOBILITY.
ZZ^
[ceased to be a great power : " When the Polanders lake a feast, all the guests who are invited must >ring a knife, fork, and spoon along with them, )ecause it is not a custom to lay any of these utensils ipon the table ; they sew a piece of linen round the j-cloth which serves for napkins. After all the lests are come, the gates are shut and are not )pened till all the company are risen from the table ind all the plate is found ; for if they did not use this trecaution, the footmen would steal part of it ; and :his is also the reason why they lay neither knives jpoons, forks, nor napkins upon the table. Every )erson of quality has a hall in his "house, which they ;all the banqueting hall, in which there is a place for side-table, surrounded with balusters. This side- ible, from which the cloth is never taken off till it is dirty, is covered with abundance of plate, and )ver it is a place for the music, which is usually com- >sed of violins and organs. Those who are invited the feast bring their footmen with them, and as soon is they are seated at the table, every one of them cuts >ff one-half of his bread which he gives with a plate of meat to his servant who, after he has shared it 'ith his comrade, stands behind his master and eats If the master calls twice for a glass of wine or >ther liquor, the servant brings as much more, and Irinks in the same glass with his master without g it. Though there is a great deal of meat >rought to the table, there is nothing carried back to le kitchen, not even of the last course ; for the 'servants seize upon all the meat, and their ladies make each of them carry a napkin to bring away the
A1R1USSIA.-N GENTLEMANmaWlNTEmBlRESS o
l^ilished according to Act- of J'arItaTn^jtt.J^aTt''j'r;84-fy T.iadfU.intfu Strand.
334 ^^^ SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
dry sweetmeats or fruits that are brought to the table. After they have done eating, they usually go to dance."
In the latter days of the Polish Republic the number of the nobility seems to have been steadily on the decrease. It was doubted whether a general levy would bring together as many as 150,000. Most of the estates were heavily mortgaged : the nobles preferred life at court or in the towns, frequently travelled, and were conspicuous for their luxury and imitation of French manners.
d. The Clergy. From the time of the introduction of Christianity, the Polish clergy possessed large estates which were increased by frequent donations. It was feared at last that most of the landed property of the kingdom would fall into their hands, and accord- ingly a law was passed in 1669 forbidding alienation of lands to the Church under penalty of forfeiture. The bishops had a seat in the senate : they were usually appointed by the king and confirmed by the Pope. The Archbishop of Gnesen was primate : he was in rank the first senator and viceroy during an interregnum. In civil affairs the clergy were amen- able to the ordinary courts of justice. In criminal cases the ecclesiastic was first arrested by the civil powers, then tried in the consistorial court, which was held under the jurisdiction of each bishop in his diocese, and if convicted he was remitted to the civil power to undergo the penalty attached to the crime of which he had been found guilty. We thus see that the Poles, although the influence of the clergy among them was very great, had not allowed them to grow
THE BURGHERS.
335
up as a kind of imperium in imperio. But till the time
of the dismemberment of the country, if the Pope
ent a bull into Poland, the clergy could carry out its
etails without obtaining the consent of the civil
ower. Till 1538, ecclesiastics were allowed to hold
civil appointments ; this, however, was afterwards
forbidden and later laws rendered the clergy liable to
taxation from which they had previously been
exempt.
c. The Burghers. The tradesmen and artisans in the Polish towns were in a peculiar position. They were for the most part Germans or Jews ; the abso- lute bondage in which the peasantry were held by the nobles forbade them from advancing themselves, and thus the trade of the country fell into foreign hands. This absence of a national middle class may justly be considered one of the main causes of the fall of the Republic ; there was no condition of society to interpose between the noble and peasant. The burghers were not governed by Polish law, but by the Jus Magde- burgicum in the southern Polish towns ; in the north- ern, in Masovia and Cujavia, we meet for the most part with the Kulm law. A magistrate under these laws was called a soltys or voigt (Pol. wojf). The condition of Cracow, the capital, will give us a good idea of what prevailed in the other cities. In the fourth volume of the Monumenta Medii CEvi historica^ res gestas Polonice illustrantia, extracts are given from some of the early municipal books of Cracow. German names greatly preponderate among the citizens, and the majority of the extracts are in
E. The oldest document of the city is that in
336 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
which the Jtts Magdeburgicum is conceded to it by Boleslas WstydHwy (1227-1279). The city of Casi- mir received the Jus Magdeburgicum from Casimir the Great in 1335 ; it has now sunk to such a small town that the Russian Government has ordered it to be styled simply a posad. It was customary for the kings, when they gave a charter of incorporation, to add the following sentence : Transfero hanc villain ex jure Polonico in jus Teutoniaun. Many of the burghers became very rich, and we are told by Dlugosz and Kromer that a certain citizen named Wierzynek gave a splendid banquet to Casimir on the occasion of the marriage of the king's grand- daughter to Charles IV. of Germany, the beloved sovereign of the Chekhs. At this entertainment the kings of Denmark and Hungary were present and also his Majesty of Cyprus. Between the nobles and the burghers the sharpest possible line of demarca- tion existed : a nobleman lost his rank by engaging in any trade. A professional class cannot be said to have existed. All education was in the hands of the ecclesiastics who dominated the universities, and medicine was also practised by them. But in the East of Europe at that time medicine had hardly passed out of the domain of the quack and conjuror. As a rule trade had made but little progress in Poland, because for a long time no tribunal existed in the country which received the complaints of a burgher against a nobleman. Most of the smaller towns were in reality the property of the nobles, and were in the same condition as some of our own in early mediaeval history. The law of 1768, which
THE PEASANTS. 337
deprived the nobles of their criminal jurisdiction, because it was so much abused, granted them as a compensation the right of increasing the services and dues of the burghers. It was not till the year 1747 that in our own country the criminal jurisdiction of the Highland chieftains was abolished. By way of compensation for the loss of power ^132,000- was granted by parliament.
d. The Peasants. These had originally been
[divided into two classes, the first of which included
[those who were personally free, but bound to perform
[certain services. These are more properly called in
Polish documents kmetons, or cmetones in mediaeval
Latin; in Polish kmieci. There is often, however, a
confusion in the use of the word. The second class
contained the peasants strictly so called, who were
tthe property of their masters, and had no rights. In
[course of time, by the continual encroachment of
the nobles upon the free peasants, they, like the
others, were completely bound to the soil.
Many of the taxes which the nobles escaped were paid by the peasants, and their condition continually grew worse. Originally the land held by the free kmetons was of two sorts : (i) the wloka, or Ian (about thirty acres). This was an inheritable property, of which the lord could not dispossess him ; and (2), the wola, which was a piece of land rented by him for a certain number of years, so called because it came by the will {wold) of the lord, and he received it again when the period had come to an end. It appears that Christmas time was the usual period at which the tenant quitted his holding. But the early
23
338 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND,
Polish laws bear continual testimony to the encroach- ment and unjust conduct of the nobles, who had a thousand ways of despoiling the kmetons of their property. It is to the credit of Casimir the Great that he always opposed these encroachments, and thus got his nickname previously mentioned.
The final blow to the independence of the kmetons was given in 1496 by the law which forbade a plebeian to possess property in land : no distinction was to be made between the wloka and the wola; and thus, since a burgher also could not possess landed property, the nobles became the sole proprie- tors. This attack on the power of acquiring land was, as Lelewel says, followed by outrages and violence against personal liberty. By a clause in the same statute, the peasant, who wished to go from one place to another, must have a missio from his lord, as if he was his serf. The starostas of the dis- trict were forbidden to give them a salvus condiictus, or passport ; they were even obliged to see that the kmetons had proper papers from the authorities of the estate to which they belonged; a passport, in fact from their lord, which was the only one of any value. Those without such passports were consi- dered fugitives or vagabonds (Terrigenarnm 7tostrorujn subditis kmetonibus, civibus, oppidanis ant servis, capi- tanei locoruin salvos condiictiis dare non debeant, Stat. 1504, 1505, 1543). In all law matters it was the lord who acted for his kmeton : the latter could not commence any proceedings against his lord, nor against any other noble unless he found a noble protector who would act for him. Then it became a
THE KMETONS. 339-
matter between the nobles ; the kmeton was only the object or occasion of the suit. We can easily ima- gine how little chance there was of obtaining justice under such circumstances.
All these oppressions were deviations from the enactments of Casimir the Great about the kmetons ; he recognised their freedom and laboured to make it secure. The zulokas, or inheritable property of the kmetons, were declared by him to be in no way liable for the debts of their lords. Thus in the statute of Wislica we read : " Ex jure divino teneatnr qtiod inigjiitas unius alteri non debeat obesse. Statuto hoc debet teiteri, quod pro poena militis aut fidejussoria cautione cmeto non debet iinpignorari, sed si teitetur miles aut quivis alter solvat de propriis bonis'' Ac- cording to the same statute the kmetons had the right of quitting their masters. In Poland, as in Russia, all history points to the gradual enslavement of the lower orders. For the murder of a peasant a fine was enacted as a penalty in 1347. Kromer tells us distinctly that the lord had power of life and death over his serfs. This continued in force till 1768, when it was first declared by law that the murder of a peasant was a capital crime, but the infliction of this punishment was surrounded with so many diffi- ties that in reality it could rarely be enforced. Thus the murderer must be taken red-handed, and this fact must be proved by two noblemen or four peasants ; if he was not taken in the act, and the requisite number of witnesses was not found, he was only to pay a fine. The old law valued each of these serfs at ten marks, or according to
340 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
the value of money at the time, about twelve shillings.
Many instances occurred of the shameful abuse of their power by the nobles. Hauteville says : " A stranger is surprised at such a heathenish custom (of the lord having the power of life and death), and takes the liberty to ask them how Christians can assume a privilege so contrary to the spirit of their religion. They usually reply : " that though they have such a power they never make use of it, no more than we and other Christians use the power we have to kill our horses, adding that the peasants serve them instead of beasts ! " In the old volume of travels of Peter Mundy, previously quoted, we get the same description of the miserable condition of the Polish serf, " For the common sort of people," he adds, " they are . . . like slaves or beasts, allowed no more than will serve to keep them alive, and in such case as they may be able to labour again." He also tells us that their master, if he killed one of them, only had to pay a fine. All travellers concur in representing the condition of the peasantry as most wretched. Poland has suffered so much that it seems cruel to heap reproaches upon her in her agonies, but the justice of history must be main- tained, and in order to realise to ourselves their condition, we must turn to the pages of Coxe.
He thus writes : " Without having actually tra- versed it, I could hardly have conceived so comfort- less a region ; a forlorn stillness and solitude prevailed almost through the whole extent, with few symptoms of an inhabited, and still less of a civilised, country.
THE VILLAGES.
341
Though we were travelling in the high road which unites Cracow and Warsaw, in the course of about two hundred and fifty-eight English miles, we met in our progress only two carriages and about a dozen carts. The country was equally thin of human habitations ; a few straggling villages all built of wood, succeeded one another at long intervals, whose miser- able appearance corresponded to the wretchedness of the country round them. In these assemblages of huts the only places of reception for travellers were hovels belonging to Jews, totally destitute of furni- ture and every species of accommodation. We could seldom procure any other room but that in which the family lived ; in the article of provision, eggs and milk were our greatest luxuries, and could not always be obtained ; our only bed was straw thrown upon the ground, and we thought ourselves happy when we could procure it clean. . . . The natives were poorer, humbler, and more miserable than any people we had yet observed in the course of our travels ; wherever we stopped they flocked around us in crowds, and, asking for charity, used the most abject gestures. The road bore as few marks of industry as the country which it intersects ; in other places it was scarcely passable; and in the marshy ground, where some labour was absolutely necessary to make it support the carriages, it was raised with sticks and boughs of trees thrown promiscuously upon the sur- face, or formed by trunks of trees laid crossways. After a tedious journey we at length approached Warsaw ; but the roads being neither more passable, nor the country better cultivated, and the suburbs,
342 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
chiefly consisting of wooden hovels, which compose the villages, we had no suspicion of being near the capital of Poland till we arrived at its gates."
Nearly a century before, Hauteville, whose work was translated into English in 1689, thus describes the Polish cottages : " The furniture of their houses consists of some earthen or wooden dishes, and a bed, which they make of chaff and feathers, with a sort of coverlet over it. Their stoves have no chimney to let out the smoke, so that their huts are always full of a thick smoke, which has no other passage but a small window about four foot from the ground. When they go into their cottages they are forced to stoop that they may not be stifled with the smoke, which is so thick above the little window that one cannot see the roof, and yet 'tis impossible to go to bed in the winter without stoves." We know from Harrison's " England " that the cottage of the English peasant first had a chimney in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the wiseacres of the time prophesied that their intro- duction would soon be followed by rural degeneration. Hauteville gives pretty much the same description of the inns as Coxe : " There are no inns in Poland where one may lodge conveniently and be accommo- dated with a bed. The only houses of entertainment are places built of wood, which they call Karcztna, where travellers are obliged to lodge with the horses, cows, and hogs, in a long stable made of boards, ill- joined, and thatched with straw. 'Tis true that there is a chamber at the end of it with a stove, but 'tis impossible for one to lodge in it in the summer, for they never open the windows even in the hottest
^
COURLAND.
343
weather ; so that strangers choose rather to lie in the stables in the summer than in the chamber. And, besides, the gospodarz^ or innkeeper, lodges in that room with his children and whole family. Those who have occasion to travel in the summer may avoid part of these inconveniences by lying in a barn on fresh straw ; for the gospodarz gathers and locks up every morning the straw which was given at night to those who lodged in the stable or chamber, in order to reserve it for those who shall come to lodge after them." We have given these sketches from early travellers in all their freshness, to illustrate the miserable condition of the Polish peasant. In justice, however, to the Poles we must remember that the condition of the peasantry in many other parts of Europe was no better. Thus in the interest- ing little work, " An Account of Livonia, with a rela- tion of the Rise, Progress, and Decay of the Marian Teutonic Order," &c. (London, 1701), we get the following description of the condition of the peasantry in those parts : " The nobility here have great privileges and immunities, being invested with full jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over their boors." Concerning the nobility of Courland, the author says : " They have absoliitum iinperium, with the power of life and death over their subjects or peasants, yet they always in criminal cases keep a judiciary court, inviting judges or assessores jitdicii, and, besides, there is a sort of jury of their equals. These poor wretches pay so much respect to their lord and masters that it comes near adoration, which makes the gentry not a little haughty, looking
344 ^^^ SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
upon themselves to be born with a kind of sovereignty, like the noblemen of Venice ; and, therefore, very seldom a nobleman of Curonia [Courland] can settle or abide anywhere, or if he does, 'tis with much un- easiness, for here they are all upon a level, therefore a count or a baron that is settled among them has no precedency or more esteem than another gentleman (that is to say, those who are allowed to be gentle- men), by reason the gentry here have the same liberties and privileges as in other places, and are of ancient noble extraction, without spot or blemish ; besides, everything is so cheap here that they live on vast plenty, being furnished with all necessaries from their vassals and peasants almost for nothing, there- fore they can at an easy rate maintain a great equipage and numerous attendance."
We must remember that the nobles in these (the Baltic provinces) were chiefly of German origin. Again, speaking of the peasants of Livonia, the same writer says : " All those inhabitants of Livonia that have been subdued by the Germans are men- tioned under the name of boors, and continue slaves, both they and their children. ... I find their con- dition in many things better than that of the peasants in Germany, who are every day afresh persecuted with troops that quarter upon them, constant taxes, and hard labour.
" They readily submit to the old custom of being whipped with rods for any fault committed. ... It may be said of these countries, as 'twas formerly said of Poland : Esl Coehim Nobilhim, Paradistis Clericoruin, Aurifodiiia Advenarum, et If if emus Rnsticorum.'"
THE yEWS.
345
e. The Jev/s. These always formed a large element of the Polish population. They entered Poland in early times, and Casimi the Great gave them many important privileges. Lengnich, the author of /us Piibliciun Regni Poloni, who lived in the earlier part of the eighteenth century, speaks of them as monopolising the commerce of the country. They were ordinarily stewards to the nobles as well as proprietors of the miserable inns to be found in Poland. Sobieski especially favoured them. They are still to be found everywhere in the dismembered country ; in Galicia they are conspicuous by the long curls which they wear in front of their ears. These curls are not to be discovered in Russian Poland, as they were for- bidden by an ukase of Nicholas.
The Government of Poland. The general Polish diet {Sejm) was supreme : it declared war and peace, levied soldiers, imposed taxes, and enacted laws ; originally, like the English parliament, it was held in various places ; in early times Piotrkow was especially favoured. But when in 1569, at the diet of Lublin, the closer union of Poland and Lithuania took place, Warsaw was the city where it was gene- rally arranged that the deputies should meet. In 1673 it was enacted that of three successive diets, two should be at Warsaw, and the third at Grodno.
The gradual growth of the diet has been described in our earlier pages. Although we hear of the election of the peasant Piast from the ranks of the people, we do not find in early Polish" history anything corres- ponding to the Russian veche. The organisation of society was purely military, and nothing more ; the
346 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
lands were divided m\.Q opolja, and in the fortresses the generals, appointed by the king or prince, com- manded, and were called castellans.
The ordinary diet was convened every two years, the extraordinary when occasion demanded. The nuntii {posly) were the members returned by the assemblies of each palatinate, called sejmiki. The highest ecclesiastical dignities were those of the two archbishops of the land, and the thirteen bishops : the highest civil dignities were those of the thirty- five palatines, the thirty greater castellans of the kingdom (majores castellani), and forty-nine lesser castellans (minores), who likewise with ten other officers of state, formed the senate.
The Palatines and Castellans were governors of the palatinates or provinces, and held the office for life : the palatine having the direction of the whole province, like our lords-lieutenant ; the castellan of a district. According to Bernard Connor, immediately after the palatines and the other four privileged persons came the several castellans, who were all senators and lieutenants to the palatines in time of war, leading the gentry of their jurisdiction into the field under the command of the palatines. Of the castellans there were several in every palatinate, who were distinguished by the title of greater or lesser ; the greater were so called because, with the exception of a few, they took the names of their castellanries from palatinates ; whereas the lesser took theirs only from districts, which made them sometimes called castellani districtimm. More- over, the lesser castellans sat only on benches behind the other senators. All sat in one large room : the
THE SZLACHTA. 347
king under a canopy on a raised throne ; the bishops, palatines, and castellans, in three rows of arm-chairs, extending from the throne on each side in the body of the hall, and the nuntii {posly) behind them. A good picture of the assembled diet is given by Bernard Connor (see page 189).
The Administration of Justice. The Statute of Wislica defines carefully the limits possessed by the tribunals of the palatines, castellans, and others, as well as of the cases in which appeals could be carried either to the king or senate. Criminal affairs lay within the cognisance of the staivsty, who were nobles hold- ing an estate of the Crown, and the castellans ; the questions of disputed boundaries, with some other matters, belonged to the siiccanierarii or provincial chamberlains ; more important disputes about pro- perty, and inheritance, and crimes of high treason, were carried either before the palatinal, or the royal, courts. This statute continued to form the basis of Polish legislation to the close of last century. In a previous chapter the great importance of the statute of Nieszawa has been alluded to. Hube, the writer on Polish jurisprudence, who died in 1890, has shown, that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries only the Polish panowie enjoyed any political importance, and they tried to make this influence hereditary. Under the title pan (Lat., bard), the panowie were distinguished not only from the szlachta, but from the members of their families, who were called proceres. The szlachta, that is to say, the nobility who discharged the duties of no office, had not the slightest political importance. This condition
348 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
of things was changed with the termination of the dynasty of the Piasts. The members of this family governed the country according to the ancient cus- toms, with which they were well acquainted, and followed the traditions of the leading families. The kings of the newly-elected line, unacquainted with the ancient rules, and strong in their position, like the monarchs of the neighbouring kingdoms already formed, ^.^., Hungary and Lithuania, proposed to pre- vent the panowie from exclusive holding of government appointments. But the panoivie devised a new scheme, and endeavoured to get a legal definition of their status, which they hoped to secure, and to guarantee to themselves a long list of privileges. Their real strength, however, lay in the military order. And thus, to preserve their former condition, the panowie began to procure for the szlachta the right of dealing with state affairs, so that they might have a united body in case of any collision with the king.
The kings also, from the year 1404, began to turn their attention to the szlachta, remarking its growing importance. It is thus that in the year 1454, the date of the Statute of Nieszawa, we get a confirma- tion of all the rights and privileges which the szlachta had actually become possessed of at the end of the fourteenth century.
Speaking generally, the fifteenth century was of great importance in the history of Polish political life, for it determines beforehand all the further development of the constitution. The relations between the ranks of society were accurately marked
POLISH LEGISLATION.
349
out, the dietifies or sejiniki came into existence, and the chief diet {sejni) was developed.
Hube has characterised Polish legislation by mark- ing it out into five distinct periods :
1. Thisincludes the time till the introduction of Chris- tianity. The history of Poland during this period is united with the general history of the Western Slavs, only towards the conclusion the Polish nation begins to form a separate apolitical whole. The prevalence of democratic elements characterises this period, as previously described in Chapter II. We find the early Poles living in their communes, and titles were unknown among them.
2. The second part embraces the period during which the Piasts ruled (962-1386). At this time the authority of the monarch is supreme ; ' at first he is merely a duke, and afterwards a king.
3. The period of the rule of the Jagiellos (1386- 1572) ; by the side of the regal power the nobility rises into importance. Poland, which has become politically strengthened in the second period, in the third assumes considerable importance among European powers.
4. The fourth period (i 572-1793) comprehends the time from the election of their kings to the last division of Poland. In this period the nobility has becof7te the fiation, and has appropriated the supreme power, and the king has become only one of the political factors.
5. This period represents the renewal, at least in part, of the political life of Poland by the establish- ment of the grand duchy of Warsaw, and after-
350 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
wards of the kingdom of Poland. In this period the nation loses its independence, and is subject to external influences. To these divisions, Poland up to the introduction of Christianity, and Poland after the dismemberment of the country, seem, as it were, the prologue and the epilogue.
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the number of the nobility increased greatly, because so many provinces were united to the Crown, and the Lithuanians and Red-Russians were admitted to the privileges of the equestrian brder. The nobles forming no alliance out of their own class became a special caste, which could not endure that any other members of the state should enter it. It was an aristocracy intoxicated with itself, and unconscious of the new forces which were gradually arising round it, an anachronism in the history of the nations ; for nations must grow like the human body.
The Jews were of course the merest pariahs, compelled to wear a yellow cape, like the pieces of yellow felt sewn on the breasts of their brethren in the Middle Ages in England.
The bourgeoisie was completely ignored, having no power, political or legislative. The legislation only acknowledged two classes of people in Poland, the nobles, ordo eqtiestris, and the ignoble, popuhis, plebs ; all the burghers, in the eyes of the nobles, were on the same footing as the kmetons, civitatenses, oppidani, et cnietones. Each noble was master in his own territories. By an ancient fiction the king was considered proprietor of all the lands Which did not belong to the nobles, but he was only master to the
THE KM ETON S.
351
extent that he could not alicne or encumber them. It was a different possession from that of the nobiHty, but a comparison was deduced from it. As the king possessed in his domains cities, boroughs, and villages, so the nobility counted among its domains cities, boroughs, and villages ; as the civitatenses^ oppidani, and cmetones were subjects of the king, so those belonging to the domains of the nobles are subjects to the nobles. Thus Kromer says in his description of Poland: "-[Plebes iirbaitce, oppidance, vicance et agrestes^ partim principi parent, partim proceribus et eqiiitibtis, partim certis sacerdotiis attri- butce sunt.'' He also says of the burghers and kmetons : " Utrique Chlopi appellantur, quam appella- tionem velut probrosam non fert nobilitas." Connor, in his work on Poland, gives us the same miserable account of the serfs. He tells us that they have no sense of law or justice, and scarce any religion among them. They were forced to work on Sundays, and had no courts to which they could appeal for redress. These serfs could never have anything of their own, nor ever become free, unless they could get into a convent or be ordained priests. " But," he adds, " most commonly their lords have a watch- ful eye upon them and obviate all their plans." According to this writer, when a lord sold his lands the serfs commonly went along with it, although he could dispose of either separately if he pleased.
And now, to conclude this somewhat rambling chapter, let us have a glance at the dress of the Poles in the time of Sobieski, from the pages of Connor,
352 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
" Their present fashion is a vest that reaches down to the middle of their legs, with a long robe, not unlike our morning gowns, lined with fur and tied about their waists with a sash ; little boots with iron heels on their legs and furred caps upon their heads, with a sabre or cutlass girt about their loins. When they appear on horseback, which is one of their chief delights, they wear, besides all that has been mentioned, a short cloak that hangs over their shoulders, much like an Irish mantle, which is most commonly furred within and without.
" The better, that is the richer sort, make use of the furs of sable, which are brought from Muscovy, when the others content themselves with the skins of tigers, leopards, panthers, and a kind of grey furs. Some of the finest of these furs cost above a thousand crowns, but they are worn only at diets, and descend from father to son." He adds after- wards : " Some few of the Poles imitate the French fashion, and wear linen, lace point, perukes, and swords. The ordinary sort of gentry, and even some of the great men, put sifted chaff into their boots, which serves them instead of socks. The women formerly had only garlands on their heads, composed of gold, gems, flowers, silk, and the like ; but now they wear silk caps lined with fur, like the men. They also formerly imitated the women of foreign countries, and in the late reign all the women of quality, particularly those that resided at Court, followed the French mode, King John III.'s queen being of that nation. Both women and men arc extravagant to an infinite degree, in so much that
POLISH DRESS.
353
some among them will have fifty suits of clothes at once, all as rich as possible ; but what shows their prodigality yet more is, that they will almost have their servants go as well dressed as themselves, whereby they generally soon spend their estates, and are reduced in a short time to the extremest want.
" Both men and women are always attended with a great number of servants of both sexes, the women to wait on the women, and the men on the men. The principal senators always ride or walk in the middle of their retinue, putting the best clothed of their servants before them. When the gentry of either sex go abroad a-nights, they have twenty-four or more white wax flambeaux carried before their coach. Women of quality generally have their trains borne up by he or she-dwarfs. These ladies have also with them an old woman which they call their governante (sic), and an old gentleman for their gentleman usher, whose office is to follow their coach on foot and to help them out of it when they alight. It may be remarked that their coaches go always very slow and gravely."
As regards the dress of the peasants, Connor tells us that in winter time they wore a sheep-skin with the wool on, like the Russian ////?//, and in summer a close-fitting coat of coarse stuff. They wore caps on their heads, and sometimes had boots, but most commonly the bark of trees wrapped round them, with the thicker part to guard the soles of their feet against the stones. These would correspond to the Russian lap^i. Connor tells us that the Lithua- nians wore the same kind of shoes which they called
24
354 ^^^ SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
cJiodakys [things to walk in]. Stockings also they made of very tender bark, which they wound about the calves of their legs. Before they came into any town they always took care to put on fresh chodakys. These were made by the villagers, so that it was a common jest in Poland that there were more shoe- makers in Lithuania than in all Europe besides. " The same people likewise wear a sort of habit with sleeves woven all of a piece. This they call samo- dzialka. It is commonly grey and very thick, and worn equally by men and women among the rustics."
Of the appearance of the Poles generally our author remarks that their complexion was fair and their hair of a " pale yellowish colour." They were commonly of middle stature, but tending somewhat to be tall. Their constitutions were for the most part good and their bodies gross. Yet the women of quality made it their chief study to become lean and slim ; but painting and washes, adds Connor, to meliorate [sic] their complexions they abhor ; neither have they any occasion for them.
Of their dwellings he tells us that the Poles never lived above stairs, and their houses were not united. The kitchen was on one side, the stable on another, the dwelling on another, and the gate in front, all which make a court either square or round. Their houses were for the most part of wood, though occasionally some were to be seen of brick and stone. Any one familiar with the East of Europe will know how these characteristics have been maintained till the present day.
Turning from our discussion of the political and
THE NOBILITY.
355
social condition of Poland, let us now endeavour to trace the causes of the fall of this once powerful state, dominant, let us remember, at one time throughout Eastern Europe. We believe the follow- ing will be found among the chief causes : —
I. The want of patriotism among the nobility. Most of them preferred their own family and local interests to that of the nation at large. Power was given them to gratify their private likes and dislikes by the pernicious custom of allowing each noble to keep an army of retainers. Poland seemed continually in a state resembling that of England during the time of the Wars of the Roses, or Scot- land in the period of the clans. There was no statute of maintenance in Poland, as in England, to do away with this anomalous state of things. We have seen frequently throughout this work in what a turbulent style the nobles made their appearance with bodies of horsemen at the diets or the elections of the kings, so that bloodshed was frequent. Hence the continual occurrence of the rebellion called rokosz, which has been already alluded to in our pages. By these outbreaks the military expeditions of the kings were often paralysed. Some writers have expressed their approval of this institution on the ground that it enabled minorities in th6 kingdom to express their disagreement with public undertakings ; but such want of cohesion on national questions tended greatly to weaken Poland. The nobility too often showed the feeling of selfish oligarchs.
2. A second cause was the intolerance of the clergy. The persecution of the members of the
II
356 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.
Orthodox Church and of the Dissidents played into the hands of the enemies of the country. The Prussians were ready to assist the Protestants, the Russians the members of the Greek Church. It was a rehgious persecution in the main which led the Cossacks of the Dnieper to sever their connection with Poland. The mischievous influence of the Jesuits made itself felt throughout the realm. We must remember, however, in justice to the Poles, how late among other peoples, and even ourselves, ideas of religious toleration have grown up. The present century first saw in England the removal of the disabilities of the Roman Catholics ; it was not till the year i860 that Jews were admitted into Parlia- ment.
3. The absence of any middle class in the true sense of the word, and the impossibility of one being formed owing to the constitution of the country. There was no class to mediate between the noble and the serf The burghers in the Polish towns had alien interests, and the fact that no middle class had been formed in Poland, as was the case with other nations, in which it had gradually developed itself upon the decay of feudalism, caused that unhappy country to be in reality an anomaly among nations : —
" Mancus et extinct a corpus non utile dextrce.^^
4, It was impossible that any real feelings of patriotism or love of country could be developed among a class in such a wretched condition as the Polish serfs. They were too ignorant to understand politics, and sentiments of patriotism could not be in-
THE POLISH KINGS.
357
Stilled in them. They had absolutely no rights against their masters : no one cared to work more than he was actually obliged, because no one could acquire anything. The only pleasure of the peasants was drinking in the karczma on Sundays, where they forgot their miseries in dancing and intoxication. The forced labour, or barszczyna, due from them to their lords, weighed upon them nearly all the week. Many of the nobility, as at the present day in Poland, enjoyed the monopoly of the sale of spirits, and were therefore interested in as much being consumed as possible. We have seen in our own days, in Galicia, a complaint brought against a philanthropic eccle- siastic who, pained at the intoxication of his parish- ioners, had induced many to sign the pledge. He was accused of diminishing the revenues of the local squire.
5. Professor Bobrzynski enumerates, among the other misfortunes of Poland, the want of men of talent and energy among her sovereigns. She had some vigorous rulers, such as Boleslas the Brave and Casimir the Great. " Yet," he continues, " whereas France had Francis I., Henry IV., and Louis XIV. ; England, Henry VIII. and Elizabeth ; Spain, Charles V. and Philip II. ; Austria, the Ferdinands ; Sweden, Gustavus Vasa, Charles of Sudermania, and Gustavus Adolphus ; Russia, Ivan and Peter — we have only a weak honest man in Sigismund I. ; Sigismund Augustus who proved a coward in all matters where action and honest conviction were required, and Sigismund Vasa (III.) conspiring for our destruction. The genius of Batory shone, but only for a while ; he
358 THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF POLAND.-
created capable men, but had not time to improve our institutions. Of our later kings, Ladislaus IV. merely deceived the country, bringing it into a worse condition, although with good intentions. Of Wis- niowiecki and the Saxon kings it is idle to make mention. The genius of Sobieski seemed only created for war, and contrasts in a glaring manner with the mistakes of his policy. We may stop awhile to contemplate John Casimir and Stanislaus Poniatowski ; but while we grant them merits, we find them wanting in capacity and energy. The history of no other country shows such a cruel fate as ours."
It seems, then, that if we add to these elements of weakness in the country the fact that it had no natural frontiers — for indeed it was a vast plain open to incursions on all sides — and powerful enemies on those artificial frontiers which were the only ones it had, we cannot wonder that it was ready to fall to pieces. But it is impossible to read the record of its death struggles without pain and sympathy. Nor does it become the native of a prosperous country, which has perhaps earned a greater reputation for material progress than for quixotic sentimentality, to coldly dissect the half-living frame of suffering Poland, stretched upon the table of the anatomist. The blotting out of her name from the register of exist- ing nationalities has a thousand times more than atoned for the errors she may have committed while independent.
•* Men are we, and must grieve when even the shade Of that which once was great is passed away."
XV.
POLITICAL AND LITERARY LANDMARKS- AUTHORITIES.
For the help of those who are students of Polish history and literature, the following short summaries have been added :
1. The landmarks of Polish history.
2. The chief events in the history of her intellectual development.
3. The chief authorities on Polish history.
THE LANDMARKS OF POLISH HISTORY.
963. Mieczyslaw, the Polish prince, becomes a
feudatory of the German Empire. 965. He receives Christianity from the Bohemian
priests. 968. Foundation of the first Polish bishopric at Posen. 1000. P'oundation of the archbishopric at Gnesen. 1024. Boleslas the Great is crowned king. 1079. Boleslas II. kills St. Stanislaus, the Bishop of
Cracow. 1079-1295. Poland reverts de jure to its original
condition as a duchy. 1 1 39. Commencement of the period of appanages.
360 POLITICAL AND LITERARY LANDMARKS.
1 1 80. The meeting at L^czyca, supposed origin of
the senate. 1226. Conrad of Masovia gives the district of
Chelmno (Culm) to the Teutonic knights. 1 241. Invasion of the Mongols; Cracow burnt and
battle of Lignica (Liegnitz). 1295. Poland again becomes a kingdom. 1 33 1. General meeting of Poles at Ch<^ciny. 1 333-1 370. Reign of Casimir the Great. 1340. Casimir unites Galicia with Poland. 1 347. Statute of Wislica. 1350. Lemberg acquired. 1352. Volhynia annexed. 1354. High court of appeal for citizens established at
Cracow. J 386. Jadwiga marries Jagiello of Lithuania, who is
crowned King of Poland. 1410. Battle of Grlinwald ; defeat of the Teutonic
knights. 1444. Death of Ladislaus III. at Varna. 1454. Statute of Nieszawa. 1466. Peace of Thorn. 1468. Establishment of the pos/y and commencement
of representative government. 1500. Walter von Pletenberg defeats the Russians
under Ivan III. 1506. Laski publishes the collection of Polish laws
under the title : Commune hicliti regni Polonice
privileginm. 1 513. The Poles lose Smolensk. 1525. Albert of Brandenburg receives at Cracow his
investiture as a feudatory of Poland,
HISTORICAL D^TES.
361
1529. The first Lithuanian Statute. 1 561. Livonia united to the Republic. 1569. Diet of Lublin; union of Poland and Lith- uania. 1576-1586. Reign of Stephen Batory. 1592. The Diet of the Inquisition. 1595. The Synod of Brzesc ; origin of the Uniates. 161 1. Sigismund III. gets back Smolensk. 1 62 1. Poland loses Riga and Livonia to Sweden. 162 1. Chodkiewicz defeats the Turks at Chocim.
1634. Treaty with Russia.
1635. Treaty of Stumdorf with Sweden. 1644. The Colloquium Charitativum at Thorn.
1646. Peace of Thorn ; Danzig and Thorn go back
to Poland. 1648. Commencement of the Cossack wars. 165 1. The first exercise of the liberum veto by
Sicinski.
1654. Khmelnitski with his Cossacks goes over to Russia.
1655. War with Sweden ; Gustavus takes Warsaw and Cracow.
1657. Treaty of Welawa ; the Elector of Brandenburg released from feudal obligations to Poland.
1657. Battle of Beresteczko.
1658. The Arians banished from the country.
1660. Treaty of Oliwa with Sweden ; the king abandons all his rights to that country.
1667. Peace of Andruszowo.
1668. Abdication of John Casimir.
1672. The Turks take Kamieniec Podolski. 1674-1696. Reign of John Sobieski,
362 POLITICAL AND LITERARY LANDMARKS,
1683. Sobieski rescues Vienna.
1699. Kamieniec restored to the Poles.
1699. The Elector of Brandenburg gets Elbing and
other places, 1702. Charles XII. gets possession of both Warsaw
and Cracow. 1705-1709. Brief reign of Stanislaus Leszczynski. 1706. Treaty of Altranstadt. 17 17. The Dumb Diet (so called because it only
lasted seven hours). 1720. Synod at Zamosc ; ratification of the Union of
the Greek and Latin Churches. . 1758. Dispute with Russia about Courland. 1766. Meeting of the Dissidents, who are supported
by Russia.
1768. The Confederacy of Bar.
1769. Massacre of Poles and Jews by Gonta.
1 77 1. Attempt on the life of the king by the Con- federates.
1772. First partition of Poland, 1774. Expulsion of the Jesuits.
1788. Opening of the Four Years' Diet.
1791. The new Polish Constitution.
1792. The Confederacy of Targowica.
1793. Second partition of Poland.
1794. Suvorov takes Warsaw.
1795. Stanislaus Poniatowski resigns the crown at Grodno ; the Third Partition.
1807. Formation of the Duchy of Warsaw.
181 5. Creation of the kingdom of Poland in union
with Russia. 1830. Outbreak of the Polish insurrection.
SUMMARY.
363
1846. The troubles in Galicia.
i860. The second Polish insurrection.
We hope in the preceding pages to have made the outlines of Polish history clear to our readers. In her earlier days her hostility to Germany begins She is at first more or less a dependency of the German Empire, and the power of her Teutonic neighbours is greatly strengthened by the numbers of Germans which form the bulk of the population of the towns ; and by the folly of Conrad of Masovia in intro- ducing the Teutonic knights, from whose small terri- tory the great kingdom of Prussia was afterwards to be formed. The distinct rivalry between Russia and Poland does not begin till the reign of Ivan IV. Stephen Batory, as if anticipating the relations in which the two countries were destined to stand to each other, is unceasing in his designs to dismember Russia. As has been already pointed out, in his negotiations with the Pope, this is his real aim, though he clothes it under the pretence of lending an ear to the Papal proposal of an expedition to drive the Turks out of Europe. Indeed he affected to claim the Muscovite territories, as appendages of Lithuania which was united to Poland.
Our sketch of the history has told of the adven- tures of the False Demetrius, and how Ladislaus, the son of Sigismund III., was crowned Tsar of Moscow. But the tide soon turns, the Poles resign their claim ; they lose Kiev and some of their eastern provinces, and at the close of the seventeenth century even suffer a temporary diminution of their territory at the
364 POLITICAL AND LITERARY LANDMARKS.
hands of the Turks. We see on several occasions the Russian Tsars putting themselves forward as can- didates for the throne. There was always an indistinct border line between the two countries, as Poland owned a large population of White and Malo-Russians, each speaking a language closely akin to the Russian, and like her belonging to the Eastern branch of the Slavonic family and adherents of the Greek Church. Thus much of the Jesuit propaganda was not merely religious but political ; they succeeded in considerable parts of White Russia, which had belonged to the former principality of Lithuania, but were beaten back from the Malo-Russians.
Austria did not encroach upon the Polish territory in the independent: days of the Rzeczpospolita ; she contented herself with getting as many archduchesses as she could married to Polish kings. These unions with Habsburg princesses begin early. Some, indeed, of the earliest Polish sovereigns, as we have seen, married the daughters of Russian granddukes, just as the early kings of Hungary did, as Professor Grot has shown in his interesting work, " The History of Hungary and the Slavonic Lands in the Twelfth Century." Austrian archduchesses were the wives of Casimir IV., Sigismund H. (2), Sigismund HI. (2), Ladislaus IV., Michael Korybut, and Augustus III.
From the Grand-Master of the Teutonic order, who had united with his dominions those of the Sword- bearers in 1237, had been evolved the Elector of Brandenburg, who got released from the homage he once owed for part of his dominions to the Polish crown, and became one of the most formidable
LITERARY DATES.
365
enemies of the country. Since the Prussian creed became Lutheranism in the sixteenth century, many of the northern cities of Poland with their large German populations began to look to him. We know- that Albert, the Grand-Master of the knights, in the early part of the sixteenth century, hoped to succeed to the Polish throne. The distracted reigns of the two Saxon kings, followed by the feeble sway of Stanislaus Poniatowski, completed the ruin of the unhappy country. The dismemberment took place, and Poland, as an independent country, was blotted out of the map of Europe.
11.
TJIE CHIEF DATES CONNECTED WITH POLISH LITER A TURE.
1 1 13. Death of Martin Gallus, the first Polish
chronicler. 1224. Death of Vincent Kadlubek. 1364. Casimir the Great lays the foundation of the
University of Cracow. 1408. Oldest existing copy of the Piesn Boga Rodsica. 141 5-1480. Life and works of Jan Dlugosz (Longinus). 1473-1543. Life and labours of Copernicus. 1474. Printing press set up at Cracow. 1 52 1. First book printed in the Polish language, 1 548-1606. The golden age of Polish literature. 155 1. Jan Seklucyan translates the New Testament,
which is published at Konigsberg. 1563. The Protestant Bible printed at Brzesd.
366 AUTMORITIES POR POLISH HISTORY.
1569. Death of Nicholas Rej, the first Polish poet
who used the vernacular. 1495-1575. Martin Bielski, author of the Kronika
Polskay and father of Polish prose. 1 530-1 584. Life and works of Jan Kochanowski. 1 606- 1 764. The Macaronic or Jesuitic Period. 1 536-1612. Life and works of Peter Skarga, the
Jesuit preacher. 1 62 3- 1 693. Waclaw Potocki, the author of the Wojna
Chocimska. 1 620- 1 700 ? Andrew Morsztyn, who introduced into
Poland the imitation of French, literature. 1700-1822. Period of French imitation. 1705. Foundation of a national theatre at Warsaw. 1735-1801. Life and works of Krasicki. 1822. Rise of the Romantic School. 1 798-1 85 5. Life and labours of Mickiewicz. 1786-1861. Life and labours of Lelewel. 1793-1876. Alexander Fredro ; foundation ot national
Polish comedy. 1 8 18-1868. Life and labours of Karl Szajnocha ; the
new school of Polish history. 1852. Rise of the latest school of Polish poetry,
represented by Lenartowicz, Ujejski, and
Asnyk.
IIL
AUTHORITIES FOR POLISH HISTORY, &-'(-.
The most complete history of Poland is that now in course of publication by Ropell and Caro in the German language. The first volume (by Ropell)
BOBRZYNSKI.
3^7
appeared as long ago as 1 840 ; the work has been continued by Caro, and in the last volume which was published in 1888 has reached the year 1506, the date of the death of King Alexander. It is a most learned and able work, and has superseded, to a certain extent, the earlier production of Lelewel, which appeared first in French and was afterwards translated into Polish. Appended to the work of Lelewel is a useful atlas, containing a series of historical maps. An excellent book is the Russ- land, Polen tmd Livland bis ins 17 Jahrkundert, of Dr. Thomas Schiemann of Revel (1886), which appeared in Oncken's Allge^neine Geschichte, It is illustrated with good maps and engravings, and has with the two previous works been constantly used in the preparation of the present volume. The work entitled Pologne^ by M. Charles Forster, pub- lished at Paris in 1840, although now out of date, contains some useful information.
A very bright and picturesque book is the Dzieje Polskiw Zarysie (" Sketch of the History of Poland "), by Michael Bobrzynski, formerly a professor at Cracow. To these works, dealing with the whole history of the country, must be added the capital Skice His- toryczne (" Historical Sketches "), of Karl Szajnocha, in 4 volumes, full of valuable matter, and as enter- taining as a novel. For Lithuanian history we have the work of P. Briantsev (in Russian), Wilno, 1889, and the suggestive Zauiietki po Istorii Litovsko — Russkago Gosudarstva (" Remarks on the History of the Lithuanian-Russian Principality "), by N. Dash- kevich (also in Russian).
^68 AUTHORITIES FOR POLISH HISTORY.
For the early periods of Polish history the Latin chroniclers are our authorities, just as the English Latin chroniclers are to the English student. We have already spoken of them in our brief literary sketch. They will be found reprinted in the invalu- able Monumenta PolonicB Historica, in 4 volumes, begun by Bielowski, and continued by others after his death. The chief are Gallus, Kadlubek, Boguch- vval, Dlugosz, and Kromer. In what relation Dlugosz stands to the old Russian chroniclers is shown by Professor Bestuzhev-Riumin in his work O Sostave Russkikk Lietopisei jdo Kontsa XIV vieka (" On the Compilation of the Russian Chronicles till the end of the Fourteenth Century "). There is also Bielow- ski's work, Wst^p Krytycz7iy do Dziejow Polskich (" Critical Introduction to the History of Poland"). A complete edition of Dlugosz appeared at Leipzig in 17 1 2 in 2 volumes. We have already, in the course of our literary sketch, dwelt upon the charac- teristics of these writers. A valuable work as con- taining reprints of many of the old Polish chroniclers is the PolonicB Historic^ Corpus^ Basle, 1592. For the reign of Ladislaus and the battle of Varna we have the "Memoirs of the Janissary." The valuable works of Narbutt have already been fully described. The reigns of the two Sigismunds and Batory are told by Sarnicki. Reference may also be made to the Panoivanie He^iryka Walezyusza i Stefana Bato- rego (" Reign of Henry of Valois and Stephen Batory"), by Albertrandi. Father Pierling has pub- lished a valuable work on the relations of Stephen with the Pope, entitled Papes et Tsars ; and we
V. KRASINSKI. 369
m'.ist also refer to the same writer's account of the False Demetrius, an episode which concerns Polish and Russian history alike. For the history of Pro- testantism and its struggles in Poland we have the work of Count Valerian Krasinski, London, 1838, a very readable book, though now perhaps a little out of date. And the two valuable works in Russian of N. Liubovich : Istoria Reformatsii v' Polske (" His- tory of the Reformation in Poland"), Warsaw, 1883, and NacJtalo KatolicJieskoi Reaktsii i Upadok Refor- matsii V Polske ('*' The Commencement of the Catholic Reaction and the Fall of the Reformation in Poland "). An interesting work on Albert Laski has been pub- lished by M. Kraushar (2 vols., Warsaw, 1882}. Among other accounts we get some curious details of the Palatine's visit to England. He appears to have been obliged to leave our country abruptly on account of his debts. For the life of his more cele- brated uncle Jan, there is the monograph of Dr. Her- mann Dalton, of which a translation into English has appeared (John a Lasco, London, 1886). For the history of the Baltic provinces generally I have found much curious information in an " Account of Livonia with a Relation, of the Rise; Progress, and Decay, of the Marian Teutonick Order . . . sent in letters to his Friend in London" (London, 1701).
A curious work is the Historia Belli Sveco-Mosco- vitici, published by J. Widekind, in 1672 ; it gives an account of the wars in the earlier part of the century. For John Casimir and Michael Wisniowiecki we have the " Memoirs of John Chrysostom Pasek " (Wilno, 1843), and subsequently reprinted. See also Ojczyste
25
370 AUTHORITIES FOR POLISH HISTORY.
Spominki (" Memorials of the Fatherland "), edited by A. Grabowski, Cracow, 1845. For an account of the Cossacks we must go to the interesting work of Beauplan, Description d' Ukraine (Rouen, 1660). The original is one of the rarest of books, but it has been reprinted. Among modern productions we have the book of M. Evarnitski, Zaporozhye v ostatkakh Starini i Predaniakh Naroda (" The Zaporozhian Cossacks in the Remains of Antiquity and the Traditions of the People"). The author gives us a glowing and almost idealised picture of these strange soldiers. His book is illustrated with plates, showing relics of the old Cossack days still preserved.
The Poland of Ladislaus IV. is described in the Relation du Voyage de la reine de Pologne. A terrible account of the slaughter in the Cossack wars is furnished by the Jewish writer, whose book was published in a German translation under the title, Jawen Mezida : Schilderiing des Polnischen-KosakiscJi- en Krieges nnd der Leiden der Juden in Polen zvdhrend der Jahre, 1 648- 1653.
The reign of Sobieski is well illustrated in the work of Bernard Connor, who was his physician, and gives many fresh details. We have largely quoted from him as an eye-witness. The relief of Vienna can be studied in the letters which Sobieski wrote to his wife : Listy Jana III. krola polskiego^ pisane do krolowej Kazimierzy, Slc. There is also the German account previously referred to, which has been translated into English. A curious book on Poland is that of Hauteville, of which an English trans- lation appeared (London, 1698). He may be read
COXE. 371
together with Connor, and puts the seventeenth- century Poland vigorously before us. Jn the course of the narrative some extracts have been given from the travels of old Peter Mundy, still preserved in manuscript in the Bodleian, to which our attention was kindly called by Mr. Madan, one of the sub- librarians. But only a small part of Mundy's manuscript relates to Poland. For the history of the Teutonic knights and the countries bordering on Poland, we have, Hartknoch Alt-und Neties Preussen, 1684, an exceedingly curious book. For the reign of Augustus II. we have the Abbe Parthenay, and for the condition of Poland, just before the dismem- berment, the letters of Lind should be read.
Coxe's travels are invaluable for the accurate sketch of Polish history which they contain, and the full account of the country. He was personally acquainted with Stanislaus Poniatowski. For the period of the last dismemberment the " Memoirs of Kilinksi," the Warsaw shoemaker, are important. To these must be added those of Oginski and Rulhiere. A minute account of the battle of Macieiowice, and the imprisonment and subsequent release of Koscius- zko will be found in the " Notes of my Captivity in Russia," by the poet Niemcewicz, of which a trans- lation appeared in English (Edinburgh, 1847).
It is impossible in a work of this kind to give a complete list of the memoirs and historical writings illustrating the Polish struggles during the present century, but those of Mochnacki may be mentioned for the insurrection of 1830, although they do not appear to be in all cases reliable, and for the
372 AUTHORITIES FOR POLISH HISTORY.
insurrection of i860, the narratives of Mr. Day and Mr. Sutherland Edwards. The interesting account of the latter published by Berg, in the pages of Rjisskaya Starina (" The Russian Antiquary "), has not been reprinted. The memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski have been edited by Mr. Gielgud (London, 1888), and on the history of the Czartoryskis the work, Pulawy, published at Lemberg in 1887 should be consulted.
A useful compendium of Polish law is the J21S Publicum Regni Polojii, published by G. Lengnich at Danzig, in 1742. To this must be added Helcel, Starodawne prazva polskiego pomiiike (" Memorials of old Polish Law"), 1857-1870, Cracow, and the many important works of Romuald Hube, who died in 1890. Helcel also edited the old Polish law-book of the thirteenth century, now preserved at Elbing ; there is also a Russian translation, and notes by M. Vinaber (Warsaw, 1888).
For Polish literature we may recommend, Pypin and Spasovich, Istoriya Slavyanskikh Litera- tiir (" History of Slavonic Literatures "), published in 1 88 1 at St. Petersburg; there is a German trans- lation. In this work the account of Polish literature is done very fully. Valuable also is the Geschichte der Polnischen Literatur, by Heinrich Nitschmann, who has also published a selection from the Polish poets translated into German. Dr. Cybulski has written on the Polish poets of the first half of the nineteenth century.
In English there is the useful little work of Mrs. Robinson, published at New York in 1850 ; now,
MICKIEWICZ. 373
unfortunately, somewhat out of date. Polish poetry has not often been translated into English, and seldom successfully. The courage of some of our enthusiasts seems to have paled before the imaginary difficulties of the language. Campbell called Praga, the suburb of Warsaw, Prague : did not know that the accent in the name Niemcewicz was on the pen- ultimate, and thought that Kosciuszko was a word of four syllables. Bowring's versions which appeared many years ago are insipid. The translations in Paul Soboleski's " Poets and Poetry of Poland," Chicago, 1 88 1, are partly taken from Bowring ; they are often absolutely ungrammatical. Miss M. Biggs has pub- lished some good translations, which may be relied upon as strictly faithful versions. She has as yet given to the public the Konrad VVallenrod and Pan Tadeusz of Mickiewicz. Materials for the scientific study of the Polish language are not wanting ; we have the excellent grammar of Prof. Malecki, and the works published by Prof Nehrirg, of Breslau. llie Prace Filologiczne^ which appears occasionally at Warsaw, contains excellent articles on Polish philo- logy. The great dictionary of Linde, of w^hich a second edition appeared in 1 854-1 860 at Lemberg, is a work of stupendous labour, but some of the articles are now out of date, though the great progress of comparative philology.
For Malo-Russian literature, which is fairly active in Galicia, there is an excellent ChrestomatJiy by Barvinski (Lemberg, 1870). Valuable works are the RutJienische Stiidien of Ogonovski, and the collections of folk talcs by Rudchenko, Kulish, and Dragomanov.
374 AUTHORITIES FOR POLISH HISTORY.
No part of Europe is richer in popular legends and superstitions than the Ukraine. The works published up to the present time convey but an inadequate idea of its wealth. It was from the stories of old in- habitants that Shevchenko took the plots of many of his most realistic poems. The country is full of tales of hetmans and their achievements ; the exploits of the redoubtable Bogdan Khmelnitski, as might be ex- pected, figure very prominently. To this day the common people believe that the ghost of the terrible Jeremy Wisniowiecki, the hero of some sanguinary engagements, haunts the country. The peasant who meets him quails before his spectral gaze. Little has been done as yet to make these curious stories familiar to Western readers ; exception, perhaps, must be made in the cases of Prof. Bodenstedt ; also the writer of an article a short time ago in the Revue des deux Mondes^ in which Turgueniev assisted, and Obrist, author of a small work on Shevchenko. The songs are full of superstitions about magic herbs, birds, and other accessories of legends. We here find what we have nowhere else met with, stories of magic handkerchiefs, such as that which the " Egyptian " gave to the mother of Othello.
A good Malo-Russian dictionary (long a desider- atum) has been published by Zelechovski. Up to its appearance the students of this interesting language were obliged to content themselves with some meagre vocabularies. The best grammar is that of Osadtsa, published at Lemberg, a great centre of the language; the Staropegian Institute being particularly active in the publication of Malo-Russian books. Eedkovich has
WHITE RUSSIAN. 3/5
already been mentioned. The poet Shevchenko, as having been born a Russian subject, has been treated of in the work on Russia, published in this series. The White Russian dialect possesses no literature except a few songs. The proverbs, however, have been collected, and all Slavonic proverbs are interesting. In 1844 was published at Wilno a book entitled, Piosnki Wiesniacze z nad Niemna i Dziviiiy, zv Mowie Slazviano-Krezuick-iej (" Songs from the Banks of the Niemen and Dwina, in the Slavo-Krevichian Dialect"). This Slavo-Krevichian dialect is none other than White Russian. Of the White Russian songs a large collection was published by Shei'n (St. Petersburg, 1874). The Polish national songs have been collected by Waclaw z Oleska (1853, the earliest), Woicicki, Zegota Pauli, Czeczota, and Oscar Kolberg.
No attempt has been made in the above list to make a full classification. The books cited have, in nearly every case, been used by ourselves, and are familiar. It seemed preferable to adopt this course, though very exhaustive lists might have been prepared by merely copying the names of the authorities prefixed to the various sections of Bobrzynski's history, which form one of the most valuable features of his useful book.
LIST OF POLISH KINGS.
(Chiefly from the Historya Polska of Balinski, Warsaw,
1844.)
Micezyslaw L (Mieszko) 962-992
Boleslas the Brave 992-1026
Mieczyslavv II 1026-1034
Interregnum ... ... ... ... ... ... 1034-1040
Casimir I., the Restorer 1040-1058
Boleslas II., the Bold 1058-1081
Ladislaus I , Hermann 1081-1102
Boleslas III., the Wry-mouthed 1102-1139
Ladislaus II 1139-1148
Boleslas IV., the Curly 1149-1173
M ieczyslaw III. 11 74-1 177
Casimir II., the Just 1178-1194
Leszek V., the White, and Mieczyslaw the Elder.
alternately... ... ... ... ... ... 1 194-1203
Ladislaus III., Longshanks ... ... ... ... 1204-1207
Leszek V., the White, a second time ... ... 1 207-1 227
Boleslas v., the Modest 1227-1279
Leszek VI., the Black 1279-1289
Boleslas, Prince of Masuria, Henry IV., Prince of
Breslau ... ... ... ... ... ... 1289-1 291
Ladislaus IV., Prince of .Sieradz, Henry IV., Prince
of Breslau 1 291-1292
Przomyslaw I., Prince of Posen and Pomerania ... 1295-1296
Ladislaus IV., the Short, a second time 1 297-1 299
Wenccslaus L, King of Bohemia 1299-1305
Ladislaus the Short, a third time 1306-1333
Casimir III., the Great 1333-1370
376
LIST OF POLISH KINGS.
377
Louis, King of Hungary Jadwiga ...
Ladislaus II., Jagiello
Ladislaus III., surnamed Warnenczyk,
Poland and Hungary Casimir IV.
John Albert
Alexander
Sigismund I. Sigismund II., Augustus Henry of Valois
Stephen Batory
Sigismund III,, Vasa ... Ladislaus IV. ... John Casimir ...
Michael Korybut
John III., Sobieski
Augustus IL, Elector of Saxony
Stanislaus Leszczynski
Augustus 1 1., a second time
Stanislaus Leszczynski, a second time Augustus III., Elector of Saxony ... Stanislaus Poniatowski ...
King
of
1370-1382 1 384- 1 389 1386-1434
I 434- I 444 1447-1492 1 492- 1 501 1501-1506 1 507-1 548 1 548-1 572
1574-1575 1576-1586 1 587-1632 I 632- I 648 I 648- I 668 I 669-1 673 1674-1696 1698-1706 1706-1709 1709-1733
1 733-1 734 1734-1763 1 764-1 795
It will be observed that some of the sovereigns in this list only ruled for a short time during periods of anarchy. Ladislaus Jagiello is called by Polish historians the second of the name, perhaps on account of the new family which then ascended the throne.
GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF THE JAGIELLOS.
Gedymin, Prince of Lithuania, f 1341-
Olgerd, t 1377-
Louis, King of Poland (1370-1382).
Ladislaus Jagiello (1348-1434) = Jadwiga, heiress of Poland.
Ladislaus III. (1423-1444). Casimir IV. (1427-1492).
John Albert, t 1501-
Alexander. t 1506.
SiGISMUND I. (1467-1548)-
SiGISMUND II. t 1572.
Catherine = John Vasa of Sweden.
SiGISMUND III. (1566-1632).
Anne = Stephen Batory.
Ladi^i Ar< I\^ (1595-1648). John Casimir (1609- 1672).
378
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379
INDEX.
Abdul Medjid, 262
Adelbeit, St., 26, 27, 270
Adelaide of Hesse, 45
Akerman, I
Albert of Brandenburg, 73, $7
Albertrandi, 316
Aleppo, 262
Alexander, of Poland, 58, 63-66,
143, 278 Alexander VI., Pope, 64 Alexander I., of Russia, 214,
244, 253, 255. 257, 259 Alexander II., of Russia, 264 Alexis, of Russia, 141 Altenstein, 274 Al'tmey^r, 320 Altranstadt, 197, 199 America, -228, 243, 244, 297 Ancillon, '261 '
Andelot, Chevalier de, 205 Andruszowo, 8, lO, 146 Angern, 160 Anna Aldona, 45, 49 Anna Jagiellonka, 6, loi, 103,
no Anne, of Austria, 136 Anne, of England, 177 Anne, of Russia, 201 Armenians, 16 Asnyk, 326 Augsburg, 45 Augustus II,, 193-204 Augustus III., 206-211 Austria, 253, 254, 255, 261 Aviano, 169
B
Bar (Podolia), 215
Barbes, 305
Batory, Stephen, i, 9, 50, 103-
117, 140, 141, 285 Baudoin, 97
Baudoin de Courtenay, 271 Bavaria, Elector of, 168 Belgrad, 163 Bern, 261, 262 Bender, 199 Beniowski, 22, 222, 314 Beresteczko, 143 Berg, 267 Berlin, 261 Berry, 205 Bethlen Gabor, 113 Bezprim, 33 Biecz, 278 Bielski, 268, 287 Biren, 201, 202 Bi'isy, 205 Blon, 249
Bobrzynski, 2, 322, 357 Boguchwal, 260, 270 Boleslas I., the Brave, 26-28,
269 Boleslas II., the Bold, 33 Boleslas III., the Wry-mouthed,
34 Boleslas- v., the Pious, 18, 36 Bolko, 45 Bologna, 274, 278 Bonneval, 310 Bonneville, 244 Boufflers, 208
381
382
INDEX.
Brandenburg, Elector, the Great,
195
Brandenburg, Margrave of, 46
Branicki, 224, 238
Brest-litovsk (Brzesc), 9, 123, 124,
224 Britain, Great, 243 Brocmann, 17 Brodzinski, 13, 296 Brougham, 261 Briickner, Prof., of Berlin, 270,
272, 292 Briihl, 211 Brussels, 317, 320 Buchanan, 276 Buczacz, 151 Bug, 249, 255, 259 Bukovina, 14 Bulanes, 22 Bulgarians, 309 Buonacorsi, 61 Burke, 229 Burns, 277 Buturlin, 143 Buxhovden, 246 Byczyna, 1 19
Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), 254 Byron, 314 Bzowski, 284
Calvin, 88
Campbell, 260
Carlowitz, 192
Caro, 44, 272, 320
Carpathians, 1 1
Casimir I., 32, 268
Casimir III., 5, 18, 37, 40-47,
336, 339 Casiniir IV., 14, 55-58, 68 Castiglione, 287 Catherine Jagiellonka, 1 18 Catherine II., of Russia, 212,
222, 238, 249, 250 Cecilia Renata, of Austria, 132 Cenova, 13 Chaml)ord, 201 Charles II., England, 206 Charles IX., of France, 92, 94,
loi
Chailes of Lorraine, 155, 162,
168 Charles Stuart, the Young Pre- tender, 178, 179, 206 Charles Gustavus, of Svi^eden, 145,
290 Charles XII., of Sweden, 195-
199, 209 Chaucer, 53 Chekhs, 336 Chelm, 124 Chernigov, 8 Chicherin, 42 Chlapowski, 134 Chocim, 128, 154, 166, 199, 292 Chodkiew^icz, 15,. 128 Chopin, 267 Churchill, 292
Claudius, Roman Emperor, 153 Clement, Master, 67-68 Clement VIIL, Pope, 125 Clement X., Pope, 177 Cluny, 33 Coccei, 220 Commendone, 117 Conde, 152 Connor, 144, 149, 190, 346, 347,
352-354 Conrad, Duke of Masovia, 35,
90 Constance, 54 Constantine, Grand Duke (the
elder), 257-259 Constantine, Grand Duke (the
younger), 264, 267 Constantinople, 139, 262, 307,
311 Copernicus, ^y, 273-275 1 Corneille, 291
Corvinus, M., 56 j Cosmas, 25
j Cossacks, 14, 128, 139, 207 i Courland, 15, 201, 343, 344 Coxe, 212, 223, 291, 315, 340 Cracow, 3, 23, 38-40, 45, 52, 79, 100, 132, 145, 151, 162, 171, 195, 215, 223, 249, 254, 255, 263, 271, 312 Cracus, 20 ! Cranmer, 131 I Cromwell, 181
INDEX.
383
I
Cujavia, 46 Culloden, 206 Cyprus, King of, 336 Czarnkow, John of, 43, 45, 271 Czartoryski, Augustus, 214 Czartoryski, Adam (the elder), 214 Czartoryski, Adam (the younger),
214, 250, 255, 257-259, 260-
263, 268 Czartoryski, Ladislaus, 6, 268 Czestochowa, 216, 272 Czersk, 90
D
Dabrowka, 26
Dabrowski, 249
Danzig, 11, 55, 74, 121, 198, 204,
206, 222, 223 Dashkevich, Prof., 16 Dee, 107 Demetrius, the False, 16, 126, 127,
251 Denmark, 336 Desportes, 100, 138 Deiilino, 76, 128 Deux Fonts, 200 Diebitsch, 258, 259 Dissidents, 144 Dlugosz, 20, 273 Dnieper, 23, 244 Dobrogniewa, 32 Domingo, St., 253 Dorpat, 115
Dragomanov, Prof., 139 Dresden, 211, 243 Druzbacka, 292 Dubienka, 243 Dubois, 320 Dwina, 244 Dzialinski, 129
Edward VI. of England, 131
Elblag (Elbing), 11, 74, 123, 195
Eleonora of Austria, 153
Elizabeth, d. of Empetor Albert, 58
Elizabeth, d. of Emperor Ferdi- nand I. , 82
Elizabeth of England, 109, 129,
131
Elizabeth, d. of Elector Palatine,
132 Enghien, Duke of, 147 Eric XIV., of Sweden, 118 Ernest of Austria, 92, 103 Esther, 44
Fedkovich (Godinski), 14 Feodore Ivanovich, 118 Ferdinand III., 132 Filicaja, 171 Fleming, Isabella, 214 Florence, 123 Foix, Paul de, 93 Fontainebleau, 244 Formosa, 222 France, 243, 244 Frederick of Austria, 18 Frederick the Great, 212, 222,
237, 292 Frederick William II., 237 Freeman, 255
Galicia, 41, 125, 223, 255, 263
Gallus, 20, 28, 268, 270
Gaszynski, 288, 323, 324
Gawinski, 277
Gedymin, 8, 15, 38, 45, 49, 124
Geneva, 323
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 21
George I., of England, 177
Germans, 16
Geron, 25
Gielgud, 215
Glinski, Michael, 66
Glinski, 76
Gniezno (Gnesen), 23, 29, 37, 12:
Godunov, Boris, 126
Gollinsz, 147
Golovacki, 14
Gonta, 14, 215
Gordon, 145, r46
Goszczynski, 312, 314
Gottingen, 293
Grabowski, 246
384
INDEX.
(Jrange, Henri de la, 163
(iranovski, 305
Gratz, 122
Clregory VII., Pope, 33
Grochow, 259, 263
Grodno, 15, 116, 223, 239, 249,
274 Griinwald, 52 Guebriant, Mme. de, 137 Gundulic, 128 Guzow, 126 Guzules, 14 Gwagnin, 286
H
Plajek, 279
Ilalicz, 7
Hanusz, 17
Hartknoch, 3
Hartlib, 131
Ilauteville, 329, 342
Hearne, 208
Heilsberg, 195
Helen Pal?eologa, 63, 64
Helena, St., 257
Henry of Bolingbroke, VI., 52
Henry VIII., of England, 70
Henri I., of France, 32
Henri de Valois, HI., 3, 92, 126
Henri II., of Germany, 28
Henri HI., of Germany, 33
Henry, Prince of Prussia, 222
Hermani, 266
Herberstein, 51
Herrick, 277
Herzen, ^57, 303, 304
Hesler, 246
Hey wood, 276
Holland, 131
HoUinshed, 279
Horsey, 84-86, 107 -no
Hosius, 279
Hugo, Victor, 314
Hungary, 336
Ibrahim, 156
Inflancka, or Inflanty (Livonia) 10, 88, 229, 344
Isidore, 123
Iskinder Pasha, 309
Ivan HI., 56, 63, 90, 118, 119
Ivan IV., the Terrible, 92, 105,
124, 126 Ivan v., II
Jablonowski, 155
Jadwiga, 15, 41, 47, 49
Jadzwings, 8
Jagiello, Ignaz, 149
Tames Stuart, the Old Pretender^ 177
Janocki, 272
Janusz of Masovia, 58
Jena, 254 j Jews, 18, 19, 44 i Jezierski, 296 I Jirecek, 55
John Albert, 58-63
John Casimir, 50, 113, 141-151
John of Bohemia, 45
John of Sweden, 92, 118
Jordanes, 23
Julius II., Pope, 64
Julius HI., Pope, 282
K
Kadlubek, 20, 21, 269, 271
Kalinka, 225, 322
Kalisch, 254
Kallenbach, 77, 81, 147
Kamchatka, 221
Kamienicki, Bp., 215
Kamieniec, Podolski, 15 1, 194
Kaniov, 248
Karski, 14
Kashubes, 12, 13
Kavanagh, 161
Kelly, 107
Kettler, 201, 202
Khilov, 221
Khmelnitski Bogdan, 139, 140,
141-143, 277 Kiev, 8, 32, 49, 53, 54, 124, 146 Kilin>ki, 293 Kleck, 66 Klonowicz, 284
INDEX.
385
Klushino, 127
Kochanowski, 97, 102, 276, 296,
307 Kochowski, 289 Kollataj, 224, 294-296 Kolszicki, 1 58 16 1 Konarski, Bp. of Posen, 95, 96 Koncewicz, 129 Kondratowicz, 324 Konigstein, 198 Konopnicka, M., 326 Korsak, 246 Kosciuszko, 239-244 Kosinski, 216, 218, 219-221 Kotzebue, 221 Kovno, 15
Krasicki, 128, 279, 292-315 Krasinski, Adam, 215 Krasinski, Michael, 215 Krasinski, Sigismund, 314 Kraszcwski, 322, 323 Kraushar, 119 Krems, 162 Kreutzwakl, 17, 18 Krok, 23 Kromer, 7, 20, 55, 119, 278, 279,
351 Krupinski, 246 Kruszwica, 23 Kiynski, 273 Krzeminiec, 314 Kuczynski, 310 Kurisches, Haf, 1 1, 15 Kwasznewski, 246
Lahoureur, Le, 4, 137, 138 Lacroix, 200 Ladislaus II., 33 Ladislaus, Loketiek, 5, 38 Ladislaus, Jagicllo, 15,41, 47-53,
124 Ladislaus III. (Warnenczyk), 54,
55 Ladislaus IV., 50, 106, 127, 132-
140 Lambert, 264 Langiewicz, 266 Laski, Albert, 117 Laski, Jan, 131
Lalerna, 115
Laud, 285
Lausanne, 303
L^czyca, 34
Leipzig, 243, 293, 318
Lelewel, 316-320
Lenartowicz, 324
Lengnich, 128, 345
Leopold, of Austria, 156, 171,
177 Lescus, 21
Leszczynska, Catherine, 197, 210 Leszczynska, Maria, 197, 208 Leszczynski, Stanislaus, 195-201,
204-210, 229 Leszczynski, Wenceslaus, 133 Leszek, the Black, 16, 37 Letts, 14
Liebenberg, von, 157 Lignica (Liegnitz), 36 Lind, 143 Linz, 271 Lithuania, 8, 14, 15, 44, 47, 76,
259, 266 Liverpool, Lord, 255 Livonia, see Inflancka Lomza, 254 Lorraine, 207
Louis XIV., 136, 150, 152, 163 Louis XV., 197, 204 Louis of Hungary, 44, 47 Lublin, 15, 49, 90, 254 Lublinist, 179 Lubomirski, 147 Lubomirski (Jerome), 168 Lubomirski, 203 Luck, 124 Lucknow, 161 Liiders, 264 Lukawski, 216, 220 lamcville, 208, 253 Luther, 88, 280 Lwow (Lcmbcrg), 7, 74, 124, 145,
154, 166, 197, 198, 277 Lysa Gora, 29 Lyszczynski, Casimir, 202
M
26
Macao, 222 Macieiowice, 241, 244
3S6
INDEX.
Mackiewicz, 222
Madagascar, 222
Madalinski, 249
Madrid. 254
Magdemirg, 323
Malacho\vski, 238
Malborg (Mnrionhurg), 3, 129
Malczewski, 312-314
Malecki, 272
Malo- Russians, 12-14, 139
Margeret, 126
Maria Josefa of Austria, 210
Marie Casimire, 162, 163, 172, 176,
182-184 Marie Louise, 113, I33-I37> 163,
183 Mariemont, 219 Martinus Polonus, 271 Masovia, 76 Matojko, 223 Maurice of Saxony, 202 Maxiniilian II., 103 Maximilian, Archduke of Austria,
118 Mayen, 246 Mazejjpa, 198, 199 Mecherzynski, 285 .Mechlin, Archliishop of, 254 Melanchthon, 280 Merecz, 1 40
Mereczon Szczyzna, 242 Merode, 1 50 Merselmrg, 28 Meudon, 201
Michael Konstantinovich, 55 Michael Korybut, 151-154, 195 Mickiewicz, 3, 138, 242, 262, 288,
298-312, 315, 316 Mieczyslaw I., 20 Mieczyslaw II., 31 Mignot, Marie, 151 Milan, 72 Milton, 131 Mindovg, 15, 47 Mirkovich, 12
Mnis/ek, Marina, 6, 114, 127, 251 Mniszek, George, 7, 114 Moltlavia, 56 Moliere, 315, 316 M()llend(jrf, 239 M oiler, 115
Mongols, 44
Montescjuieu, 208
Montfermeil, 268
Montluc, 92
Montmorency, 312
Morea, 171
Morsztyn, 144, 291
Mundy, Peter, 137, 240
Muraviev, 267
Murray, 177
Mustapha, Kara, 158, 163, 166
N
j Naganowski, 329 Nancy, 208 Napoleon I., 253, 254, 257, 293,
301 » 309 Napoleon III., 262, 305, 307 Narbutt, T., 320, 321 Narbutt (the younger), 266 Naruszewicz, 316 Nehring, 67, 272 Nepomuk St. John, 46 Nestor, 23
Neuburg, prince of, 152, 155 Nevers, 151 Nicholas I., of Russia, 258, 259,
345 Niemen, 249, 255 Niemcevvicz, 241, 242, 260, 296-
298 Niepolomice, 106 Nieszawa, 56, 348 Nitschmann, 295, 320 Nogat, 1 1 , 207 Nosovich, 14 Novgorod, 9 Novgorod Severski, 56 Nowogrodek, 53, 242, 298 Nuremberg, 45
Oginski, 195
Olawa, 177
Olgerd, 9
Oliwa, 146
Opalinski, 133, 145, 289
Oppeln, 46
Orleans, Philip, Duke of, 163
INDEX.
387
Orsha, 10 Orzarowski, 249 Orzechowski, 279-284 Oslroleko, 259 Osvviecini, loi Otakar Pfemysl, 86 Oiho of Germany, 26, 27 Otho, St., 34 Oircpicv, 126
Pac, 155
Padua, 274
Paliiieraton, 260
Paprocki, 288
Paris, 263, 293, 314, 317, 318
Pasek, 153
Paskevich, 252, 259
Passau, 157
Patkul, 197, 198
Paul of Russia, 242, 244, 250,
25I' 293 Paul III., Pope, 274 Paul IV^, Pope, 283 Pawluk, 140 Pedro, of Portugal, 177 Pereiaslavl, 143
Peter the Great, 10, 1 1, 195-201 Petersburg, St., 222, 259, 297 Petofi, 262 Petrycy, 288 Philadelphia, 243 Philip 11. , of Spain, 124 Pianori, 262 Piasecki, 290 Piasts, 47 Pierling, 65, 127 Pila, 293 Pilica, 249 Pinsk, 124
Piotrkow, 58, 82, 114, 345 Plater Emilia, 301 Pleto, 206 Pletlenberg, 90 Plock, 11,^34, 254 Plowcze, 38 Pol)locki, 13 Pociey, 124 Podebrad, 55
Podolia, 156, 223, 228, 259 Pol, 324
Polanow, 132 Polotsk, 88 Poltava, 198 Pomorze, the, 223 Poniatowski, Count, 199 Poniatowski, Joseph, 249, 252, 318 Poniatowski, Stanislaus, 3, 212-
251, 292 Poninski, 225-226 Pope, 182 Popiel, 21
Posen (Poz'.ian), 28, 197, 254, 255 Posse vino, 105, 124 Potocki, Felix, 224 Potocki, Ignatius, 224 Potocki, Joachim, 215 Potocki, Waclaw, 128, 289 Praga, 206, 246 Prescott, 321 Prussians, 249, 253, 254, 261,
267 Przezdziecki, 271 Przemyslaw, 38 Ptolemy, 22 Pulawy, 214 Pushkin, 70, 304, 312
Raby, Lord, 209 Raczinski, 170 Radziejowski, 196 Radzivvill, Barbara, 82 Radziwill, Nicholas, 15, 84, 1 15 Ragoczy, 141 Rakow, 140, 275 Rej of Naglowice, 275, 276, 280 Revel, 17, 88, 121 Richelieu, 150 Riga, 115 Rogozno, 28 Romanov, Michael, 232 Rome, 278 Ronsard, 97, 276 Riipell, 320 Rosner, 203 Rousseau, 208, 294 Rudawski, 290 Rulhiere, 250
Russians, 44, 70, 238, 244, 249, 261, 267, 298
388
INDEX.
Ryxa, 32 Rzcwuski, 224, 295
S
Sagra de la, Ramon, 306, 307
Salcman, 17
Salicetus, 74
Samogilians, 9, 14
Sandecz, 271
Sandomir, II, 254, 271
Sapieha, Leo, 129
Sapieha, 238, 239
Saratoga, 243
Sarbiewski, 278, 307
Sarnicki, 106
Savannah, 222
Saxony, Elector of, 254
Schafarik, 22, 106
Schiissburg, 262
Schiematin, 30, 32, 53
Schimmer, 162
Schleicher, 29
Schmitt, 322
Semigallia, 221
Serbs, 309
Sforza, Bona, 72, 82
Shakspere, 292
Shelley, 301
Shuiski, 127
Siberia, 221, 259
Sicinski, 143
Sieradz, 131
Sierakowski, 260
Sigismund I., 70-82
Sigismund (Augustus) If., 15, 50,
82-90 Sigismund III., 3, 10, 16, 50, 106,
I 19-132, 140 Silesia, 33, 34, 46 Skarga, no, 115, 124, 148, 285 Skrzyntcki, 259 Slowacki, 221, 314 Smolensk, lo, 57, 76, 128, 146 Smolka, 322 Smolrycki, 129 Sobieska, Clementina, 178 Sobieska, Teresa, 177, 185 Sobieski, James (the elder), 155 Sobieski, James (the younger), 162,
170, 184, 193
! Sobieski, John, 146, 155-184 I Socini, 275 i Solticki, 238
Soiuo, Sierra, 254
Sophia of Kiev, 53, 272
Sophia, Pakvologa, 63
South, 175, 176
Southey, 22
Spain, 150
Speed, 131
Stahremberg, 157, 168
Stanislaus, I5p. of Cracow, ^^
Starowolski, 290
Staszic, 293
Stephen of Moldavia, 6l
Stockholm, 119, 121
Strawenski, 216, 220
Stryc, 169
Stryikowski, 286, 287
Stwosz, Wit, 58
Suchoczino, 249
Suchorzewski, 228
Suckling, 277
Suvorov, 239, 246, 248
Sviatopolk, 28
Sweden, 121, 255 .
Switzerland, 244
Sylvius, ^Encas, 54
Szajnocha, 321, 322
Szarospatak, 272
Szujski, 322
Szymonowicz, 277
Talleyrand, 260
Targowica, 118, 224, 228, 243
Tarnowitz, 162
Teczynski, Andrew, 67
Tcczynski, Jan, 67
Teczynski, Grand Chamberlain,
lOI
Teil, de Count, 182 Terlecki, 124
Teutonic Knights, 35, 36, 49, 51 Thianges, Chevalier de, 205 Thietmar, 28
Thorn (Torun), 11, 55, 66,68,74. 123,140,203,222,223,255,275 'i'horwaldsen, 252, 275 Thou de, 92
INDEX.
389
I
Tomicki, 96 Towianski, 307 Transylvania, 105 Trembecki, 292, 315 Troki, 53, 57 Tulln, 162
Turks, 54, 154, 156, 171 Twardowski, 291
U
Uglitch, 126 Ugro-Finns, 17 Ujejski, 324-326 Ulrich von Jungingen, 52 Unruh, Sigismund, 203 Upsala, 119, 121
Varna, 54
Venetians, 171
Vienna, 156-171, 207, 257, 293
Vistula, II, 23, 68, 77, 222, 246,
249 Vitovt, 52, 54 Vladimir, 51
Volhynia, 8, 227, 228, 258 Voltaire, 208 Vostokov, 12
\V
Waldeck, prince of, 268
Wallachia, 74
Waller, 182
Wapowski, Castellan, 100, 107
Wapowski (historian), 286
Warmia, 223
Warsaw, 2, 11, 108, 127, 140, 145, 150, 166, 179, 195, 198, 217- 220, 239, 246-249, 254, 257- 259,263, 264, 293, 316
Wart a, 26
Washington, 243
Watts, 278
Watzelrode, 274
Wawrzecki, 246, 249
Wedrosza, 64
W^gierski, 292
Wehlau, 74
Weichselmiinde, II
Weisscnburg, 200
West Point, 243
Westphalia, 112
White Russians, 14
Wieliczka, 12, 255
Wielopolski, 264
Wietor, 272
Wilanow, 172, 180
Wilno, 15, 49, 53, 64.65, 84. 239,
253. 254, 257, 259, 266, 316 Wislica, 42
Wisniowiecki, Jcr, 251 Wisniowiec, 14 1 Witepsk, 223, 259 Wittenberg, 280 Wladyslaw, see Ladislaus Wojcicki, 269 Wollowicz, 115 Wolter, 15 Wordsworth, 301 Wroclaw (Podolia), 154
Yam Zapolski, 105- Yaroslav, 28
Zaiaczek, 246, 257 Zabiello, 229 Zabokrzycki, 154 Zakrzewski, 322 Zaleski, 312
Zamojski, Starosta of Cracow, Zamojski, Polish general, 119 Zamojski, Chancellor, 125 Zamojski, Count, 163 Zamojski, Count, 264, 265 Zapolya, Barbara, 72 Zapolya, John, 105 Zborowski, 95, 97 Zborowski, Christopher, II 7 Zborowski, Samuel, 100, 107 Zemblak, 54 Zernicke, 203 Zholtia Vodi, 140 Zic'ence, 243 Zimorowicz, 277 Zolkiew, 177, 178, 181 Zolkiewski, 127 Zurawno, 127
UNWIN BROTHERS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.
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